


The Lorelei Salvage

by flynnparadox



Category: Alien (Prequel Movies), Alien Quadrilogy (Movies)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Explicit Language, F/F, LGBTQ Character, Monsters, Outer Space, Post-Canon, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:35:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 77,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28585074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flynnparadox/pseuds/flynnparadox
Summary: Aurora: a dying mining colony far past the Frontier.Tosh Seven Station: orbiting Aurora. A port for deep-space travelers. Oasis of the far space lanes.Argo: a deep space salvage vessel, docked at Tosh, its crew living on the inescapable surface of Aurora.Something is stirring on Aurora. Something is not right on Tosh. And the crew of the Argo are about to discover something out in the depths of space. Something horrible. Something old and formidable beyond all reason and sanity. Pray for them.An original novel with (mostly) original characters, set in the ALIEN universe.
Kudos: 2





	1. Prologue & I

"To the destruction of what is."  
\--Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent

PROLOGUE

In a vast, open space, high up among the girders, the Beast slept. No one living knew if it dreamed or, if it did, what those dreams would be about. Would such a horrid creature dream of metal and flesh grinding together in some great machine suspended in space? Or did it dream of the hunt, like a dog? Of stalking its prey down dark hallways and through cramped, claustrophobic spaces? Or would it dream of something much worse, something that human minds could not even fathom?  
The Beast slept under countless layers of dust and the considerable weight of Time. As the years passed, a translucent shell of sorts hardened around it, protecting it from the elements and the ravage effects of Time. Even if there were anything still living in this space, they could not harm it in such a state. Any creature that came upon it in the deep dark would be repelled by the pungent smell that wafted off the shell in potent waves.  
It slept amongst the dead. Numerous corpses littered the vast space, most of them burned, none of them human. What bodies weren't burned to a crisp had mummified long ago, creating murals of Death in the vast space and beyond.  
The hallways of this enormous complex were pitch black and almost all of them were lined with door after door. Doors which now led to nothing but tombs in the dead of space. The air that had once circulated before the incursion had long since dried up and disappeared. Now, it was as much a Void as what lay beyond its walls. The small creatures that once scavenged here - rats, roaches, etc - had long died.  
Below the Beast, a huge, burnt corpse had become part of the wall in the years since its death, a mural like all the others. This large corpse had been important to the Beast sometime long ago. Did it remember?  
The Beast still slept. It was waiting for something to happen. What that something was, it probably didn't even know. Was it waiting for humans to find it? And what it do if such a thing did happen?  
And if it dreamed, it dreamed of horrible things. Things far away, dark, inhuman.  
Of things Alien.

1

22/11/2401

"You've got less than three minutes, Knight!" Keppler barked over the communicator.  
That's what her voice sounded like: the bark of a dog. Short, sweet, mildly threatening, to the point. Gwyn Knight had heard it all before and so she terminated communications with a quick flick of her wrist. Knight was in her early twenties, not tall. Skin tanned by exposure to the heat of so many engines over the years. She was small but carried a lean strength. She was tougher than she looked and, kitted up in a space suit at the moment, she was perfect for getting in and out of tight spots like the one in which they faced now. The space suit was utilitarian green with a totally open dome revealing her short, dark blonde hair. Grimes and Rank were nearby but it was Knight wedged between the slightly bending walls of the space ship that was falling apart around them, the only one of them that could fit.  
"Captain says you've got two minutes," Reese Grimes informed her.  
"On it," Knight said.  
If they couldn't rewire this particularly tricky sequence of conduits, they were looking at an explosion, which would mean not only losing the salvage but also, quite likely, their lives. Knight, Grimes and Rank were on the old freighter ship while the rest - Fall, Valentine, Blanche, and Captain Keppler - were on their tug, the Argo.  
Knight worked as fast as she was capable but it still didn't feel like enough. It never did. It always felt like they just on the verge of losing it all with each salvage. Knight wondered idly if all salvage teams felt this way or whether it was just them, Argo, so far outside the normal space lanes. Whether what they did was just that much more dangerous. Out here there were pirates and criminals, pockets of resistance to the USM and the Company, mad generals with their own armies. But there was also much profit to be had. They were always finding old ships that had drifted off path after some disaster had killed the entire crew, just leaving their expensive ships for the taking. And there were even old mining facilities out here, many with old equipment just left lying around.  
"Captain says that you're out of time!" Grimes said.  
"Patched up," Knight said.  
"Good," Rank said with a sigh.  
"Not good," Knight said.  
"What?" Grimes said. "Why?"  
"When this one went live, another problem popped up," Knight explained. "On the other side."  
"Christ," Grimes said.  
Knight shimmied out of the crack in the wall and immediately hooked her belt to the long length of metal wire they had rigged up near the ceiling. It was weightless in the ship and Knight glided - not exactly gracefully but efficiently - along the corridor to the other side. The interior of the ship looked like most ships out here. Designs hadn't exactly changed much in the last three hundred years of space travel. Hell, most of these ships were that old themselves, if not even older.  
"Knight," Grimes said, "we gotta go or we're dead!"  
"We don't have time to go," Knight said as she opened a panel in the wall on the other side of the corridor. "If I don't patch this up, none of us are getting out of here alive. This ship will explode and take the Argo with it. So let me do my job."  
Grimes nodded. He was in his 30s, bald, with intense blue eyes. He was a technician specializing in engines. Handy for repurposing old ships that needed it. In this case, he was just here as an extra hand. The ship was shot, electrical barely worked, and they were just going to pull it in. Benjamin Rank was older then either of them, in his 40s. He was tall and lanky, with dark, curly hair that was probably too long for the kind of work they did. He was a mechanic, a wizard at the physical side of what they did. No doubt, he could have done a better job at rewiring this hunk of junk but he wasn't small enough to do the job so Knight stepped in.  
"Captain says ten seconds!" Grimes shouted.  
Knight sliced open two wires and combined them, sealing them up. It was almost done.  
"Five!" Grimes said.  
"Almost there!" Knight said.  
The new wiring went live, Knight could see it spark to life and she smiled with relief. She turned to the others. "We're in the clear!"  
Grimes reported it to the captain while Rank simply doubled over, hands on his knees, breathing deep. Knight hung on the wire, just drifting in the weightless space, resting, wishing that she could wipe the sweat from her brow.  
"Good work, Knight," Rank said.

The Argo pulled the old ship along at a fair pace through the vast emptiness of space. In the cockpit, Mirella Fall was at the helm. She was a short woman with equally short black hair. She was in her mid-twenties, a cute young woman with a certain innocence about her that seemed in contrast to most of the others on the ship. Case in point was Captain Renee Keppler, a tall, severe woman in her early fifties. Her red hair was just beginning to grey and she had piercing blue eyes that seemed to stare right through Knight. They were both standing in the cockpit near navigation, a seat which was currently occupied by Carrie Valentine. Valentine had strong arms and dark skin, her hair elaborately braided. Knight always wondered idly if the woman (and Rank, for that matter) ever worried about getting her hair caught in something during a particularly tense situation. The rest of them kept their hair short, mainly because of this, Knight suspected.  
Keppler had her arms crossed across her chest. Never a good sign. "You need to listen to me."  
Knight clicked her tongue. "If I had listened to you, we would have all been dead."  
Keppler cocked her head to one side and smirked. "Nevertheless."  
Knight turned away, frustrated, then turned back. "Nevertheless what? You want us to all die? Is that it? Look, you hired me because you know that I can do the job. Rank, Fall, me, we all know what we're doing. And I assume that you trust our judgment when it really matters."  
Keppler sighed. "I do trust you. And, in this situation, you were right."  
"Thank you," Knight said.  
"But this is a pattern, Knight."  
Knight decided that now was the time to cross her arms. Just to keep up. "Oh, Jesus."  
Keppler looked pointedly at Knight's crossed arms. "It's a pattern. Your insubordination. It won't stand."  
Knight looked over at the co-pilot. "Fall"  
"Yeah?" Fall answered, not looking back.  
"Am I insubordinate?"  
Fall turned her head just slightly, so that Knight could see it in profile. A small smile. "For sure. But that's what makes you charming. Part of it, anyway."  
"You see?" Knight said, speaking to Keppler once more. "Fall thinks I'm all right."  
Valentine chuckled and dropped her two cents. "Maybe but you scare me."  
Knight shot a glance at the woman. "Quiet, Valentine or I'll shut your mouth myself."  
"Ooh, is that a promise?"  
"Mmmm... Maybe."  
Valentine smiled and Knight found herself smiling back. She thought she stopped herself from blushing but couldn't be sure.  
"Fine," Captain Keppler said. "So the crew likes you. I like you. But I'm watching you, Knight. Keep your hands clean. Now, get into the back and help out Grimes and Rank."  
"Aye, captain," Knight said.  
She started into the back, opening the door of the cockpit with a quick slap of a hand. The circular doorway slid open and Knight stepped through.  
"Knight," Keppler said.  
The young woman stopped halfway through the door and looked back. Keppler nodded to her.  
"Keep those instincts sharp," the captain said. "In any case."  
Knight nodded back but said nothing. She left the cockpit, the door closing behind her automatically.  
She walked through the low-ceiling corridors of the ship towards the aft. Passing by their small kitchen area, she grabbed a baseball off a counter and tossed it into the air, catching it just as deftly and then bouncing it off the ground, then off a wall. Banking it off a pipe near the ground, she nearly hit Richard Blanche as he emerged from the restroom just off the corridor.  
The grey-haired, worn-down looking man was startled and he took a step back, almost tripping over the very pipe that Knight had hit the baseball against. Knight reached out to steady him but he stopped her, one hand outstretched. "That's all right. I'm fine."  
Knight kept her voice light. "Sorry to scare you, Blanche."  
Blanche shook his head. "No need."  
Knight nodded and kept moving but, once again, someone stopped her with a voice. Blanche spoke up.  
"Stop by this evening, okay?" he said. "I want to give you some injections after being on that ship. Just as a precaution, of course."  
"Of course," Knight said. "That all?"  
"That's all."  
Knight nodded again and went on her way. Blanche was responsible for odd jobs on the ship and on assignment but mainly he acted as their medic, in case anything should go wrong. He wasn't licensed, of course, but it was difficult to find a licensed doctor this far out in the depths of space. And he was alright, mostly.  
Knight continued through the ship and reached the engine room, where Rank and Grimes were in the middle of what appeared to be a heated conversation. Knight leaned against the doorway of the engine room, arms crossed, just listening. They were ostensibly making sure the engines were withstanding the extra weight of the massive vessel they were towing but were really more interested in their conversation. Neither of them had noticed her presence yet.  
Grimes gestured wildly with his hands. "You're out of your mind. The 320s don't have nearly enough power. It would blast the ship apart before escaping orbit."  
Rank looked like he was managing to remain calm, measured. "I'm telling you, you apply the right thruster at the right time and you're guaranteed not just escape but a much faster escape."  
Grimes shook his head so hard that it looked like it might go spinning off his neck. "This is your usual delusional bullshit. You always have these ideas but that's all they are: ideas. None of them are practical."  
Rank smirked. "A few of those impractical ideas have saved our asses a few times."  
Grimes huffed. "Oh, please. No solution you've come up with yet has been at all original. They're just variations on already existing ideas."  
Rank held up his hands gently. "Agree to disagree."  
That manic, frantic energy was still running through Grimes. "Oh, just like that, huh? Give up? Nah, nah, nah, you're not getting away that easily. Come on, keep going."  
Rank was suddenly more interested in his tools, which rested on a surface nearby. "Look, I never wanted to argue in the first place. Was just spit-balling is all."  
Grimes got in the other man's face. "Yeah, but you need to defend your words. Stand up for yourself."  
Knight smiled and decided to interject."Why don't you just admit your feelings for each other and get a room?"  
Rank was startled by Knight's sudden appearance but not Grimes. He barely looked at her when she spoke, just lit up a cigarette and responded with a droll, "I don't think Fall would like that very much."  
Knight entered the engine room. "I don't think she'd mind."  
She and Rank exchanged greetings and, after a moment, Grimes offered cigarettes to the two others. They both accepted as Grimes crossed to the other side of the room and grasped hold of a long pipe about a foot above his head. He held on with both hands and flexed, smiled at the two of them. It was not a pleasant smile.  
Rank looked at Grimes for a moment, then at Knight. "Captain chew you out?"  
"Yeah," Knight said between drags. "Nothing I can't handle."  
Rank grinned. "Is there anything you can't handle?"  
Knight shrugged.  
"Can't handle your personal life," Grimes offered, "can ya, Knight?"  
She didn't look at him. "My life is my business. No one else's."  
Rank looked at the two of them, confused. "What are you talking about?"  
Grimes let go of the bar above his head, shook his arms like he was trying to dry them and there were no air dispensers around. "Knight here had herself a little filly back home. Didn't ya, Knight?"  
Rank still looked confused. "What, back home Aurora or back home Tosh Seven Station?"  
"Tosh, last few times we brought in salvage," Grimes said, that cruel smile fixed in place. "Yeah, she had it made. Girl was perfect, I tell ya. Tits and ass like steel, skin a smooth olive. But ya fucked it up, right, Knight?"  
"Fuck you, Grimes," was all Knight said, seeming to concentrate on her cigarette more than the two men in the room with her.  
"Oh, fuck me?" Grimes said. "Fuck me, huh? Least I get fucked, my little Knight. Least I get to go to bed every night with a severely fuckable little thing who happens to be in the co-pilot chair as we speak. Fall knows what's she's doing in the sack is all I'm saying, you know what I mean?" He moved across the room like a predator, head low as he approached Knight. "But this woman can't keep a girl to save her life. Maybe it's the two dads. I don't know. What do you think, Knight? Think it's because you had two dads and no mama? Think that's why you can't keep a good woman around? Maybe if you had two moms instead, you might know what you're doing. What do you think? Maybe?"  
Rank put up a cautioning hand. "Leave her alone, Grimes. She just saved our fucking lives. Think she deserves a break."  
Grimes relaxed the cruel smile just a bit. "For you, Rank, anything."  
He sat down next to Knight, waiting expectantly for her to do something, for her to act. Knight just looked at him, drew in a drag from her cigarette and blew smoke into his face. Grimes waved the smoke away from him and laughed. "You're alright, Knight. You are certainly alright."  
"What do you think we'll make outta this run?" Knight asked, looking at Rank and not at Grimes.  
Rank appeared to think about it for a moment before answering. "Good money. Decent haul."  
"Good but not great," Knight said.  
Rank nodded. "That's about the size of it. Good but not the Big Enchilada."  
Knight sighed and took another drag from her cigarette. Grimes finished his own smoke and tossed it aside. He drew a pack of gum from his shirt pocket and extracted a piece of it. He smacked away at the gum as he spoke. "Got big plans, Knight? That it?"  
Knight shrugged. "Nothing big."  
Grimes smacked his gum, grinning through it. "What, then? Got some new drug you wanna buy? Something expensive?"  
Knight rested her forehead in a free hand. "Just wanna get off that rock is all."  
"Aurora?" Grimes asked. He shrugged. "It's okay."  
"You would like it," Knight said.  
Grimes put out both of his hands in a "what are you gonna do?" gesture. "Not a lot of people, most of em poor and easily manipulated, know what I mean? Look, I'm not saying it's the best place. Lot of the time, I don't want to be there, either. But it's not the worst. And, hey! You want drugs, Knight, I'm your man. I can move anything through that rock. You want new stuff? I can make it happen. Got a contact on Tosh who's got some new stuff coming up the next pipeline."  
Knight still had her head in her hand, still looking down. "No, thank you."  
Grimes patted either side of his hips in a strange gesture. "Well, just say the word and it's done. Special price, just for my shipmate, sexy but mean grease monkey though she may be."  
Knight finally looked up, took another drag. "Yeah, I'll let you know. Sure."  
"And how's your old lady, Rank?" Grimes asked. He was up again, pacing about the room, full of energy.  
Rank looked down. "You mean the dead one?"  
Grimes slapped his forehead. "Ah, shit, that's right. I'm sorry, man. I forgot."  
Rank shrugged, then looked up. "'S okay. Been a while."  
Grimes approached now. "Been a while and you haven't moved on? What's wrong? Don't got game anymore?"  
Rank shrugged again. To Knight, it looked like he didn't want to discuss the matter. "Guess not. Haven't really tried."  
"Hey, tell you what." Grimes knelt down beside Rank, clapped his hands together. "We should go out for dinner when we get to Tosh."  
Rank looked slightly alarmed. "You mean you and me?"  
Grimes' mouth curled into a smirk. "No, man, no. A double date. Fall and I plus you and whoever we find to set you up with. How does that sound?"  
Rank paused for a moment before answering. "Sounds terrible."  
That stopped Grimes. He was simply frozen for a moment, then a small smile crept across his face. He stood up and backed away from Rank slowly, deliberately, his feet almost dancing across the floor as he moved. He pointed at Rank. "I like that. You're a funny guy, Rank. Funny. I gotta take a shit. Speak to you losers later."  
And with that he was gone, down the hallway to the restroom facilities. Knight shook her head as he left, looked up at Rank. "The fuck is his problem?"  
"Beats me," Rank answered. "Think he's high off his own supply?"  
"If he is, then he's hiding it well enough. Keppler and Valentine always make a good sweep of the ship before taking off, searching for contraband, that sort of thing. They didn't find anything. As far as I know."  
Rank cocked his head to one side. "What if he had it on him. Hiding it in a bodily cavity, know what I mean?"  
Knight coughed on her cigarette. "Oh, god, why did you have to put that image in my head." Another cough. "Fuck. I won't be able to sleep tonight."  
Rank laughed. "Hey, I'm here to provide. Want something to eat?"  
Knight got her coughing under control. "Sure. Do we still have any of that compressed pizza? That was okay."  
Rank looked around, as if he could see into the kitchen from here. "Uh, I think so. I'll check for ya."  
Knight pitched her cigarette away. "Thanks."  
Rank left, too, leaving Knight alone. Alone, at least, except for her thoughts, which circled about her cranium like water running down a drain.

Grimes stretched out on the small bed in the equally small quarters on ship. He had just got off shift and was beat. It was night cycle and they wouldn't reach Tosh Seven Station until morning, so he had all night to sleep it off, which was good.  
The door slid open and Fall walked in. They shared the quarters together. Grimes looked up at her and sighed. After a moment, he sat up and started to get off the bed.  
Fall put up a hand. "Don't bother. You can have the bed."  
Grimes got up anyway and leaned against the wall opposite Fall. He crossed his big arms and looked at her. "Course."  
Fall opened a panel on the wall nearest her. It folded out into a small work desk. It had its own, dim light, so she could continue work while Grimes slept. Fall sat down at the work station and brought up a screen and started manipulating it with the virtual keyboard on the surface of the desk. After a moment, she stopped work and turned to look at Grimes. "What?"  
"Nothing," Grimes said. He approached Fall, now leaning against the wall opposite, right next to Fall.  
Fell raised her eyebrows. "If it's nothing, then you should probably get some sleep. It was a long day."  
"I was hoping..." He let it hang in the air and put a hand on Fall's shoulder.  
Fall sighed and looked away. "No."  
"Jesus Fucking Christ," Grimes said. He whirled away from her and crossed back to the other side of the small room and sat on the bed. "When, huh? When will it be time?"  
"Never, alright?" Fall said. She still wouldn't look at him. "We're not a couple. Not really. You're just my cover. You know that."  
Grimes looked like a hurt child. "If it walks like, if it talks like, if it looks like, then maybe it is. Is that so wrong? Would that be so terrible? Have I not earned it?"  
Fall kept working at the desk. "I don't owe you that. Isn't the money and credits enough? That cash wasn't easy to come by, you know."  
"I know," Grimes said as he stretched back out on the bed, hands covering his face. "I know it wasn't. And don't think that I'm not grateful. I am, it's just... You know how beautiful I think you are, right?"  
Fall didn't answer for some time. For a moment, Grimes thought that she had gotten wrapped up in her work and simply hadn't heard him. Then she finally spoke.  
"I know how you feel about me," she said. "And I don't feel the same about you. I'm sorry. Our arrangement is the same as before. The others can't know about me. Understand?"  
Grimes took his hands away from his face, shook his head but answered her. "Understood. I don't like it but I understand."  
Fall merely nodded, put a hand up in the air and made a small, precise gesture. The lights went out, leaving only the small lamp of Fall's desk illuminated. Grimes turned away from the soft light, closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

At first, it was nothing more than a small dot against the stars, a tiny blip on the radar screen. Slowly, it grew as it got closer, revealing itself to be the Argo and the ship it was towing. The two ships moved through the vacuum towards Tosh Seven Station.  
The station itself would have been impressive thirty or forty years previously but now, when incredible advances in science and engineering were being made within the inner rings of the galaxy, it was outdated. A number of additions to the station had been added over the years but this only gave it a patched-together, almost desperate, feel.  
Tosh, alerted to Argo's presence, readied herself for docking, signaling the ship to do the same. As Argo approached, she and the station danced for a few moments before the ship safely docked in one of the station's seven ports.  
It was a beautiful display. Shame that no one was watching.

After they had docked, registered, and went through security, Captain Keppler met with their buyer on the station while the others rented rooms and generally got to unwinding. Keppler met Melissa Verve in a nice but nondescript office near the dock, as she always did. Verve was dressed in a smart-looking suit; a rather beautiful woman in her thirties with long blonde hair that was severely tied back in a pony tail. Everything about her was severe. When she stood, she often had her hands folded behind her back. When she sat, her hands were almost always out of site. She never shook hands but only nodded, in the Japanese manner.  
She sat behind her desk, offered Keppler to sit across from her. "Everything go alright?"  
Keppler took the offered seat. "No major problems. No more than usual, anyway. My people know what they're doing."  
Verve's gaze didn't waver."I know that they know. That's one of the reasons why I pay you top dollar. It's also one of the reasons why I don't ask questions about where any of the salvage comes from."  
Keppler produced a thin smile. "All of it above board, I assure you."  
Verve shifted in her seat. Just slightly. "I've no doubt."  
Keppler was curious. "Then why did you say that?"  
Verve got up, hands folded neatly behind her back and turned away from Keppler. She didn't say anything for a moment, then turned and spoke. "If I knew where a salvage was - a big salvage - and it was in a location not-entirely-legal, would you be able to acquire it for me?"  
Keppler got up from her chair and eyed the contents of Verve's desk for a moment. There was the thin, black, professional computer pad, an old-fashioned ink blotter - ancient, in fact - along with an equally-old quill pen, and an empty coffee mug. Nothing else.  
She adjusted the quill pen. "This something the Company wants?"  
Verve was still looking away. "This is something I want. So?"  
Keppler picked up the pen, regarded it. "Maybe. If I agree, when?"  
Verve turned to regard Keppler. "It would be soon but not right away. Intell is in route but not quite here yet. A week. Maybe two."  
Keppler nodded. "How much?"  
That unwavering gaze, like the woman was trying to burn a hole right through Keppler using just her eyes. "Equivalent to five times your usual fee."  
Keppler - poker face - nodded again. "Let me talk to my crew."  
Verve nodded herself. "Fine. The transfers have been made. You're all paid for this job. Please consider my proposal."  
Keppler set the pen back in its slot. "I will. You have a good night."  
Verve took a stance behind her desk. "And you."  
That Japanese bow, that was all. Keppler left the office and the docking area and headed deeper into the station. All of them bunked up when renting rooms at the station, to keep costs down. She and Knight would be rooming tonight and possibly tomorrow before heading home to Aurora, the planet that Tosh Seven Station orbited.  
Keppler reached her room and had no trouble getting in: Knight had made sure to log both their DNA samples into the room for easy access. As Keppler entered, the shower was just being turned off and Knight emerged from the bathroom, toweling off. She had several tattoos on her small frame, the most prominent one being some Asian character on her neck, just at the shoulder line on her left side. "Shower's still hot if you want it. I wasn't in there long."  
Keppler nodded. "Sounds good."  
She undressed, not embarrassed at all around Knight. Their bodies may have been different - Knight's small, lean and boyish but certainly female while Keppler's was more rounded and mature and still showed signs of her birth sex, at least below the waist - but they were both women, and crew-mates.  
"We'll be grabbing a bite to eat if you want to join us," Knight said as Keppler headed into the bathroom.  
"Sure," Keppler said as she fired up the shower again.  
Knight flashed a brief but beautiful smile. "Meet you there."  
Keppler tried to match the smile but couldn't. "Right."  
She barely heard Knight getting dressed and ready to go. The shower - for her - was not going to be short, like Knight's. No, hers was going to be long. She loved that first, long, hot shower after a big job. The showers here on Tosh were far better than any of the facilities back home, on Aurora, so she took her time here. It was almost a religious experience for her. God, what would Watts think of her if he knew about that?! Probably would just laugh it off, honestly. Keppler smiled to herself and continued to enjoy her shower.

Grimes grinned, which was never a good thing. "Guess what?"  
All of them except for Keppler were seated in a booth at Prince's - the only decent eatery on Tosh, at least according to Valentine - enjoying a good meal for the first time in a while. Knight was nursing her beer, having already finished her cheeseburger.  
Valentine smirked at him. "You quit?"  
Grimes acted mock hurt. "No, of course not. As much as you'd like that, I'm sure. No, they're working on a transmat here on Tosh."  
Rank scoffed. "Get outta town."  
Knight leaned back against the imitation vinyl of the booth. "Yeah, I call bullshit."  
It appeared that Rank felt the need to elaborate. "No one's working on transmit, not this far out. They're pulling your leg."  
Grimes grabbed his empty beer bottle and rapped it on the table a few times. "It's true, I swear!"  
Fall smiled politely. "It's true. I was there, too. Whole team of techs was working on it at the docks."  
Valentine looked excited. "Holy shit."  
Grimes nodded. "That's what I said. It'll beam down to the surface and back."  
Knight frowned. "What would they want on the surface? There's nothing of value there, anymore."  
All of them were stumped for a moment. Grimes looked up at the light above the table, brow furrowed. Finally, Blanche spoke up. He looked out of place sat together with the rest of them. It wasn't the age difference, not all of it anyway. It was the way he carried himself, how he was dressed. He looked uncomfortable.  
"Probably just a testing ground," he said. "Company tries it here, make sure it works, before setting it up somewhere more profitable. They've done it before. As you say, Knight, there's nothing on the surface of Aurora that is of interest to the Company, meaning that everything down there is expendable."  
Knight nodded. So did Grimes.  
Blanche looked off into space, above their heads, past them all. "Transmat is the future. That and cloning."  
Rank leaned forward. "You think so? Cloning, I mean?"  
Blanche shifted his gaze to the younger man. "Indeed, I do."  
Rank shifted his drink; he had ordered a soda. "It's just I've never met any clones."  
Blanche smiled. "As far as you know."  
Rank thought about it, nodded. "Touche."  
Blanche looked confident. "It's more common than you think."  
Rank shook his head. "I don't believe you."  
"It's true," Fall said once again. "The head of the Company is a clone."  
Valentine had just finished her beer and practically slammed it down on the table. "You're shitting me."  
Fall looked taken aback for a moment, then recovered. "I shit you not. P.T. Weyland is a clone."  
"Of who?" Valentine asked.  
"The founder of the Company," Fall explained. "Well, part of the Company anyway. Weyland Corp, before they merged with Yutani."  
"This was before they bought the USM?" Rank asked.  
"Way before that," Grimes said. "Hundreds of years ago."  
"They're that old?" Valentine said.  
Grimes looked pleased with himself. "Yeah. They were effectively dead for half a century but came back in a big way twenty years ago or so."  
"Why is that?" Blanche asked.  
Grimes continued to hold court like some half-assed school teacher. "That shit with the USM Auriga, when it crashed landed on Earth, killed hundreds of thousands of people? Well, that nearly destroyed the USM. They were vulnerable. Company reforms, buys 'em out. The rest is history."  
Knight lit up a cigarette and puffed away. "Didn't know you were such a student of recent corporate history, Grimes."  
"I'm interested in all kinds of shit," Grimes said.  
Owen Prince passed by their table, then stopped to regard them. "Hey, no smoking here. You know that, young lady."  
"Sorry, Prince," Knight said and dropped the smoke into now-empty beer bottle.  
Prince was a big man who usually had a bored look on his face but he was a good enough guy, they all knew that. And his cooking was excellent, as well.  
Keppler finally joined them, taking an empty seat at the booth. She sighed. "What'd I miss?"  
"Not much," Knight said. "Grimes informed us that they're installing a transmat here on Tosh."  
"I've heard rumors," Keppler said.  
"We paid?" Grimes asked.  
"We are paid," Keppler confirmed.  
"Hot damn!" Grimes said. "I am getting good and fucked up tonight."  
"So no change there, then," Fall said.  
Knight smirked. Keppler ordered coffee from Prince as he passed by, but no food. When her coffee came, she laid out Verve's offer to them and asked them what they thought about it.  
"What's there to discuss?" Grimes said after Keppler explained the offer. "If we're talking about the kind of money that we're talking about, then it's definitely a 'yes', right?"  
"Well, hold on," Fall said. "Could be dangerous."  
Grimes gave her a quizzical look. "When is what we're doing not dangerous?"  
Rank slowly nodded. "He has a point."  
"Fuck yeah," Valentine said.  
"Do you not want the money, Fall?" Grimes asked, looking at her pointedly. Knight watched something pass between them, something silent but troubling. She didn't know what it was, but it was there all the same. She did a fairly good job keeping the frown off her face.  
Fall looked uncomfortable. "That's not the point."  
Valentine looked at her like she was crazy. "It is the point, though. This is an opportunity that we can't pass up. I vote yes."  
"I fuckin vote yes," Grimes said.  
"I have to vote yes, as well," Blanche said. "I could use that money."  
"Me, too," Rank said, slowly nodding his head.  
Fall sighed. "Fine. Fine, then. Yes." She bowed her like she'd been defeated.  
Keppler looked at Knight. "Knight? We only do this if it's unanimous. What do you say?"  
Knight - wishing her smoke was still lit - looked around the booth at all of them. She shrugged. "Alright, count me in."  
Grimes smacked an excited hand onto the table. "Yeah! Finally, some sense comes outta your mouth! Fuck yes! When?"  
"We got a week, at least," Keppler said. "Enough time to go planetside, see our loved ones, regroup."  
"Sounds like a plan," Rank said. He pulled his Company credit card from his wallet and was about to put it on the table to pay but Keppler stopped him.  
"It's on me today, people," she said. "Good work out there."  
Grimes affected a shit-eating grin. "Boss is paying, huh? Well, I'm not gonna say no."

When all but Keppler had left the diner, Prince joined the captain at the booth, bringing a pot of coffee with him. He sat down across from her with some effort, grunting as he did so. He refilled Keppler's cup and made one for himself as well. There wasn't much of a crowd in the place anymore, after the breakfast hour. They were practically alone.  
"Any surprises out there?" Prince asked.  
Keppler settled back in the booth. "Nothing we couldn't handle. But thank you for your concern."  
Prince leaned in conspiratorially. "Word is Verve has something specific for you."  
Keppler was too tired to jump in her seat but she raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Wow. Okay, nothing gets past you. I thought we were being discrete here."  
Prince smiled an incredibly thin smile. "Oh, you were. I wasn't eavesdropping. It's just that there isn't anything happens on Tosh that I don't know about."  
Keppler took a sip of her coffee. "I believe it. Got your hands into everything around here."  
Prince nodded. "My husband would agree with you."  
They lapsed into silence for a moment, both of them sipping their coffee. Keppler looked at Prince and frowned. He knew something and was holding back, she could tell. "What is it, Prince? You know something. Is it gonna cost me figure out what that is?"  
"No," Prince said. "No charge."  
Keppler had enough energy to lean forward. "Then spill it."  
Prince sighed. "You have a problem on your hands."  
Keppler felt herself waking up, really paying attention now. "Meaning?"  
Prince looked like it was painful to say. "Someone in your crew."  
Keppler waved it off. "I know they're a bunch of screw-ups but they're good workers. They know their jobs."  
Prince shook his head. "That's not it."  
Keppler frowned. "What, then? Drugs? I know some of them party a little too hard and, yes, there are drugs involved, but still, I--"  
Prince cut her off. "Listen to me."  
Keppler ran her hands through her hair, not sure if she was ready for whatever it was he had to say. "Alright, I'm listening."  
Prince shook his head. He looked downtrodden. "One of them is a spy."  
Keppler didn't respond. She picked up her mug and downed the rest of her coffee in one big gulp.  
When she didn't interject, Prince continued. "I don't know which one, but a secret communique from the Company came down the pipeline just as you were leaving dock on this last mission. It was beamed directly to your ship on a secure, hidden frequency wave. So, unless you know what that is, I'm pretty sure it was picked up by one of your crew. Which means that one of them is a spy for the Company."  
"Well," Keppler said, "that complicates things."  
Prince gently took hold of one of her hands. "It may not be anything to worry about. There are Company spies across the whole galaxy. Most of them are just reporting into the Company, making sure things are above board. Or, if they're below board, then they make sure that they're below board to the benefit of the Company."  
Keppler found the warmth of his hand comforting but she could feel sweat forming on her forehead. "This new job that Verve offered is off books. Below board, in other words."  
Prince patted the back of her hand. "I know, which is why I thought you should know about this. I got a guy who works at the top of the station. Paid to monitor far off stars or something. But he also scans for transmissions, that's his hobby. So, I pay him to suss out the secure ones. They're scrambled, so I don't know what they say, but I know where they come from."  
Keppler nodded and thought for a moment. "This job pays too much to turn down. Guess I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled, try to figure out who the spy is."  
Prince let go of her hand after one last pat. "Alright, I just thought you had a right to know."  
"Thank you," Keppler said. "What do I owe you? For the meal."  
Prince waved it off. "On the house."  
Keppler nodded, put her empty mug down, got up and left. She took another look at Prince and tipped him a silent "thank you" before exiting the diner.

Down in the lower depths of the station, a level or two below the bustle of the promenade, Blanche found a man with one eye leaning in a disused doorway. He looked ragged and unkempt but it looked almost like a lifestyle choice, rather than someone actually down in the dumps. He didn't look as bad as the poor beggars in the sealed public buildings down on Aurora. Those miserable souls were truly destitute. But this man looked like he was aiming for a particular look, which was exactly what Blanche was looking for; had, in fact, been told to search for this certain individual, whose name was apparently Underhill.  
"You Underhill?" Blanche asked.  
"Who wants to know?" Underhill asked like he wasn't really interested.  
Blanche cautiously approached the other man. "Blanche. I was told that you had what I need."  
Underhill looked about suspiciously. "Maybe."  
Blanche didn't like all this cloak-and-dagger stuff. "I have credits. Question is: do you want to make money today?"  
Underhill seemed to relax. "Alright, what are you looking for?"  
By God, was this man tiresome. "You know very well what I want. In fact, I know that you were expecting me. QR7. Thirty doses."  
Underhill clicked his tongue, dropped either a wink or a blink; it was hard to tell with just one eye. "That stuff ain't cheap."  
Blanche nodded dismissively. "I'm well aware. You have a swipe?"  
"Course." Underhill produced a small personal device, black and utilitarian. They discussed and agreed upon a price. After that, Underhill held the device out to Blanche, who produced his credit card and swiped it across a slot in one side of the device. This was followed by a series of small, blue digital lines that swam across the interface of the device. Blanche regarded Underhill with a questioning look.  
"It's scrambling the transaction," Underhill explained. "Creating a fake signature. It'll look like you just bought stocks or some bullshit like that."  
Blanche nodded. "Clever."  
The device beeped faintly and the blue lines stopped their dance. Underhill took the device back, punched a few buttons on the interface, nodded. When he seemed satisfied, he took a look around to make sure that they were still alone - they were - and produced a small bottle from his coat. It was no bigger than a bottle of eye drops. In fact, the label proclaimed to be such. And, in a way, it was true: it was eye drop medicine, just not any legal brand.  
Blanche took the offered bottle, shook it, opened it and leaned his head back. With his free hand, he held open first his left eye and administered two drops into it, then did the same with his right eye. He blinked a few times, feeling the effect of the drug almost instantly. He felt himself calming, felt the inner pain dimming. Satisfied, he nodded to Underhill and made to leave.  
"Hey, man," Underhill stopped him when he was a few meters away. "You must be under some serious stress to need that shit."  
Blanche thought about it for a moment. "You have no idea."  
After that, he was gone.

"Turly, Turly, Turly, what have you got for me tonight?"  
Valentine strode into the small parlor like she owned the place. It was a nondescript front: the sign said TURLY MASSAGE PARLOR but anyone who was interested knew what it really was. Valentine was there for sex, like most people were.  
Turly, a tall, stern-looking woman who appeared to be of Asian descent - Japanese? Chinese? Valentine didn't know; out here, so far from the core, it was so hard to tell - stood behind a small desk in the front, public area. She sighed and approached Valentine. "Thought you'd be gone longer."  
Valentine smirked. "I know how to do my job. And my crew knows their shit. It was cake out there. Now what's new?"  
Another sigh from Turly. "Eighteen year old girl from Zeus Colony."  
Valentine shook her head. "Not exotic enough."  
Turly looked bored and produced a cigarette. "Twenty year old boy from Cassiopeia."  
Valentine considered for a moment. "Those Cassiopeians aren't exactly flexible."  
Turly lit her smoke up. "Experienced woman from Solano."  
A dismissive hand from Valentine. "I'll pass."  
Turly took a first puff. "Thirty year old man from New Chicago."  
Valentine - who had been looking away as if dreaming of the perfect catch - suddenly shifted her gaze to Turly. "New Chicago?"  
"That's right," Turly said, "New Chicago. Just arrived last week."  
Valentine cocked her head. "Last week, you say?"  
Turly blew an impressive smoke ring. "That's what I said."  
Valentine smiled. "I want him."  
Turly nodded. "This way."  
And she led Valentine into the back area of the parlor, where all the real work was done. Valentine smiled practically from ear to ear. She was going to enjoy this.

Rank stopped, looked again at the small shop squeezed between the grocery store and the movie theater, trying to confirm what he had spotted out of the corner of his eye. His senses had been correct: it was a bookstore.  
Actual, paper books!  
Rank hadn't seen one in years. Almost everything was digital now. People tended to live nomadic lives, especially out here past the Frontier, so any physical items were ones of necessity: food, water, the various tools of survival. But books?!  
He shook his head and approached the little shop. Indeed there were books, many of them. Some were old, some were new. Rank had heard that there were still books being printed in the core systems, he just didn't think he'd see any of them this far out.  
"Help you find something?"  
The voice came from inside the shop. Rank looked up and saw a short, wide man, older, mostly bald. He fiddled with a pipe, but Rank saw that it wasn't lit. In fact, there wasn't any tobacco in it, either.  
Rank shook his head. "Just browsing. Don't see many books out here."  
The man tapped his empty pipe against his temple. "That's why I set up shop here."  
Rank nodded slowly. "You new here?"  
"Less than a week. Oh, excuse me. Krimp." He gave a little bow.  
Rank returned the gesture. "Rank. Nice to meet you."  
Krimp wandered back into the stacks of the shop. "Let me know if I can help."  
Rank nodded and continued to browse. He passed by a rack of sports biographies and another full of accounts of life on the Frontier. He spotted an old paperback sitting on a stool near one of the shelves and picked it up. GHOST SHIPS: TRUE STORIES OF NAUTICAL NIGHTMARES, HAUNTINGS AND DISASTERS the title read. He thumbed through it, smiling.  
Krimp gestured with is pipe. "That's a good one."  
"Looks like it," Rank said.  
"Old."  
"Very old."  
Krimp sighed. "Expensive, I'm afraid."  
Rank smiled. "I got money to spend."  
Krimp nodded. "Glad to hear it."  
Rank considered for a moment. "Business not so hot?"  
Krimp shrugged. "Comes and goes. I've made some sales - good ones! - but nothing consistent yet. Early days, though."  
Rank liked this guy. "Well, you'll have a customer in me."  
Krimp looked pleased. "Excellent. You ready or...?"  
Rank looked at his book, considered. "Let me look around a little more."  
"Of course."  
Rank continued to browse the small bookstore, practically in heaven. The smile wouldn't leave his face.

In the late evening, Keppler returned to her room just as someone was leaving it. The woman - a pretty young thing - walked out of the room looking fairly upset and moving at a brisk pace. Following close behind her was Knight, wearing nothing but underwear and a tank top.  
"Suki, wait!" she said.  
Suki - presumably - didn't even look back, just continued down the hall until she disappeared around a corner. Keppler shook her head, nestled the bag she was carrying and joined Knight. The younger woman banged the back of her head against the doorjamb in frustration, then covered her face with her hands.  
"What did you say to her?" Keppler asked.  
"I don't even know," Knight said, face still covered. "Something dumb. And probably political. It's all a blur."  
Keppler scoffed. "Bad luck's been following you lately. At least in these kind of matters. Luckily, it hasn't been following your work. Much."  
Knight dropped her hands away from her face, almost raking her nails down her flesh. "Yeah. There's that, at least."  
"Come on," Keppler said, a hand on Knight's shoulder, leading her into the room.  
They went inside, the door closing automatically behind them. Each of them sat on their respective beds.  
"I brought these," Keppler said and opened the bag.  
She pulled out a six-pack of Sarsaparilla, in bottles. She handed one to Knight, who took it with some excitement. Then she frowned at the bottle.  
"Not even beer?" she said. "Really?"  
"I've been trying to cut back," Keppler explained. "Plus, I didn't know I'd be sharing. I was going to offer, of course, but..."  
Knight smirked. "But you thought I'd be passed out drunk already."  
Keppler shared the smirk. "Something like that."  
Knight tipped the bottle to her. "Thanks."  
Keppler returned the salute. "You're welcome."  
They both twisted off the tops of their sodas and took a swig, almost in perfect unison. There was silence for a moment, the two of them just enjoying the simple pleasure provided by the carbonated goodness.  
"Bet these aren't cheap anymore," Knight said after a moment.  
"They are not," Keppler said. "But we recycle the bottles, they get nuked and reused and so on and so forth."  
"Like everything nowadays."  
Keppler nodded. "What are you looking for?"  
Knight didn't look at her. "Just wanted to get laid."  
Keppler shrugged. "Well, I can't help you with that. Sorry."  
Knight reached for another soda. "It's okay."  
Keppler handed her the drink. "But that's not want I meant."  
Knight turned her gaze on Keppler. "I know."  
"So, what is it?" Keppler asked.  
Knight shook her head. "Just looking for a connection, you understand? It's just... Something's missing."  
Keppler nodded in understanding. "I know how that feels. Before I found Watts... It was like a hole. Like a big empty place. You know? I mean, in the Outer Rim... It's not like the Core Systems. Growing up the way I did wasn't as readily accepted as it would have been in the inner circles. So, it took me a while to find someone that I felt truly comfortable with. And Watts, in turn, gave me confidence in myself. Now, I don't care what other people think about me."  
"Great," Knight said. "So I just have to find my one true love. Sounds simple."  
Keppler smiled. "Maybe you've already met her."  
Knight smiled, scoffed. "Right. Who, Valentine? She just likes to flirt. It's not serious."  
Keppler shook her head. "I don't who I mean. Just a guess."  
Knight nodded, worked on her soda and remained silent. Keppler flicked on the holo unit to see if anything of interest was playing.


	3. Chapter 3

Knight looked out the window of the shuttle as it descended through the atmosphere. They had stayed on Tosh for two days before heading home, leaving Argo in space dock. It was easier - and cheaper - to keep it docked there rather than planetside, since they would be heading out again in a week or two. On Aurora, short-term parking for ships of Argo's size was far too expensive. Long-term parking less so. The guys who ran the short-term lots were sharks, looking for every buck they could.  
Knight couldn't blame them, though. Everyone was looking out for themselves on Aurora.  
Even from the sky, it looked awful. All grey rock, craggy mountains and poison sky. The settlement was situated between two mountain ranges and Knight looked down on the pathetic collection of buildings scattered there: factories, bars, a church, the town hall, various shops. Beyond those, the pre-fab housing that everyone called home, even if they didn't want to.  
It was all so depressing. So dehumanizing.  
And they were all trapped here.

Keppler exited the shuttle and walked into the station. It was all indoors, of course, as pretty much everything on Aurora was these days. The building was large and would have been bustling with people sometime in the past. But not anymore. Keppler counted ten others in the shuttle station besides her crew and herself. She walked to the locker bay and unlocked her personal unit with breath recognizer.  
Breath recognizer! Everything was so outdated here. Nothing had been updated in over forty years. The walls looked worn and dirty. Keppler saw no work on a transmat station here. Maybe that was just a rumor after all, then. She shook her head.  
She grabbed her breathing unit and joined the rest of her crew in the decontamination area. They all donned their breathing units as the doors shut behind them, sealing them into the chamber. A moment later, the outer doors opened and they were free to explore their world.  
But no one in their right mind would want to explore this world. The dank, dull red sky looked down on them like a cruel patriarch. The atmosphere was fine, balmy and mostly comfortable. The gravity was Earth normal. But the air was poisonous.  
Keppler didn't know all the details, didn't know the whole history but she knew that, after terraforming, the mining began and it was the mining that poisoned the sky after a few decades. Now the mining had stopped. Some sixteen years ago now.  
Each of them went to collect their vehicles or try to catch a ride home, or the bar. Keppler was headed for her own vehicle when someone approached her from behind.  
"Keppler?" the woman said. "Captain Renee Keppler?"  
"Yes," Keppler said.  
The woman was wearing her breather, which covered a lined, worn face. Keppler had seen many faces like it on Aurora.  
The woman showed a Company badge and Keppler sighed. "Coordinator Hastler would like to speak with you. I've a transport waiting."  
"Alright," Keppler said.  
She followed the woman to a uniform grey ground vehicle. This one, however, looked more expensive than most of its kind, which made sense if it was, indeed, sent by Gordon Hastler.  
There were two people in the vehicle already: a driver that Keppler didn't recognize and a tall, lean coiled cobra of a man that Keppler did know. His name was Rope and he provided private security for Hastler.  
"I'm Umbray," the woman introduced herself as they reached the vehicle.  
Keppler nodded and got in the transport. She looked pointedly at Rope as she sat down. He stared back at her, still and silent.  
"Want to check me for weapons?" she asked after Umbray sat down next to her.  
"No need," Rope answered for her. "It would have come up on the scan."  
Keppler nodded. "Right."  
They got going after that, the ground transport practically gliding through the settlement. Keppler saw Knight walking by herself to a bar not far from the shuttle station. It was a dive, a horrid place, but Keppler sure wished she was there instead of in this vehicle right now.  
The vehicle drove past the settlement's only school, which had been closed for almost as long as the mines had been closed. Past the worn-down town hall. Past the church, with its once-white steeple. Past a small neighborhood of pre-fab houses. Until finally reaching an estate.  
There was no other word for it. It was an estate. If it were on Earth or one of the Core worlds, it would have been called a mansion, she supposed. It looked almost like a vast, gothic church to her, something like Notre Dame. There was a tall, secured gate around the grounds and, as they approached, it slid open for them, allowing them access.  
Keppler saw four guards stationed around the house. They wore fatigues and fully-enclosed helmets: breathing units plus armor. Heavy duty stuff. Each of them held rifles: the very latest models.  
And, in the distance, past the house, Keppler could see construction going on. Another building going up on the expansive grounds. What was that for, she wondered.  
The driver parked the vehicle in an enclosed parking area, which sealed itself shut behind them. All of them except the driver exited the vehicle and proceeded inward.  
Keppler noted Rope's sidearm under his jacket and under his arm as he took off his breathing unit. Did he feel that he had to be armed all the time?  
They all hung their breathing units in the parking area before heading deeper into the house. They entered into what was clearly some kind of guest or meeting area. It was larger than most people's entire homes here on Aurora. Keppler shook her head.  
Umbray accessed a communicator and spoke briefly into it before hanging it up and turning to the others. She gave her best smile, which wasn't much of one.  
"You can proceed now," she said. "They're expecting you in the lounge."  
Keppler nodded and was escorted by Rope further into the house. Umbray stayed behind. They entered into a large hall with a tall, vaulted ceiling. Keppler looked up in awe.  
Soon, they reached their destination, entering a doorway into a vast, open space lit only by two candelabra and a huge fireplace. A massive fire was burning inside, sending an orange/red glow across everything.  
Dimly, in the darkness, Keppler could make out what looked like hundreds of bookshelves lining the walls, but she couldn't be completely sure since they were so far away.  
Sitting in large, comfortable chairs near the fire were two men. They were laughing and enjoying a drink. One was sturdy but not too large, with greying hair. The other was big, both in height and in weight, with dark, receding hair. Both of them were late middle-age. Keppler knew both of them.  
Gordon Hastler, the large, wide one turned to her, nodded. "Ah, Captain Keppler. Have a drink. And a seat."  
Keppler approached as Rope stayed near the door, becoming almost invisible in the dark. Keppler sat in an unoccupied chair next to the two men and helped herself to a drink. It looked like very fine brandy.  
Hastler tapped a gold cigar cutter against the end table near his chair. "You know Governor Laeni, of course."  
Keppler nodded to the other man, Holt Laeni, who tipped a drink to her. The captain took a drink herself. Yes, it was brandy. Very fine brandy, indeed.  
"Governor Laeni tells me that your last salvage was quite a success," Hastler said.  
He put down his drink, finished, and opened a box on the little table near him, producing a cigar. He clipped it with the cutter, lit it and smoked as they talked. Never once did he offer one to them.  
Keppler took another sip of her drink. "Yes, it went well."  
"Good, glad to hear it."  
Hastler's voice was deep, melodious. Charismatic and mysterious. Keppler knew him to be a representative of Weyland-Yutani, supposedly quite high up the chain. Why he was stationed here was a mystery, but he'd been here for more than ten years now.  
Governor Laeni ran the settlement here on Aurora. Under Company direction, of course. He wouldn't lift a finger without Hastler's say so.  
Keppler considered her words. "I'm curious as to why this is of any interest to either of you. What my salvage team brings back can't have any real impact on what the two of you get down to around here. Whatever that is."  
Hastler laughed as Laeni spoke. "Of course it does. It has great impact. To morale, money, resources."  
"Yes," Keppler said, "but so does practically any other business around here or in orbit. So, why send for me?"  
"Well..." Laeni began but petered out.  
Hastler took a puff of his cigar and got the conversation back on track. "I understand that you spoke to Melissa Verve when you docked at Tosh."  
"Yes," Keppler said. "I always report to her. She's the one who pays us."  
A grand gesture from Hastler. "Of course! But she had something different to say to you after this last job."  
This was a sensitive area to tread. Keppler had to determine what they knew, how she should play the next move. She feigned ignorance. "What makes you say that?"  
Another puff on that cigar and a deceptively benign expression on his face. "So, she didn't have anything out of the ordinary to say, then?"  
Keppler tried to remain calm. "I'd rather not discuss business."  
Hastler smiled. "But your business is our business, captain. Verve is an employee of Weyland-Yutani, just like myself. Just like you."  
"I'm an independent contractor," Keppler insisted.  
Hastler chuckled. "Come now, Keppler. You're an independent contractor, Laeni here is, as well. But we cut the paychecks. We run the show. Does that make sense?"  
"It does," Keppler said.  
Hastler leaned back in his chair. "You've got a chip inside of you just like Laeni here does. You all do. Everyone who lives here does."  
Keppler nodded. "Yes. I don't like it but it came with the job."  
Hastler puffed away on that cigar. "Comes with all the jobs. We own you. We allow you to live here, we don't ask questions about your past or why you're here. We're generous. We allow you to live here. And, for that generosity, you work for us. Run a bar. Pilot a transport. Sell drugs on a street corner. Captain a salvage ship. There's no difference, in the end. You can't leave until you've paid back your debt to the Company."  
Keppler didn't know she was going to push it until it came out of her mouth. "There's no way to pay it back."  
Hastler's eyebrows raised. "What was that?"  
Keppler pushed further. "The system is designed to keep us here. You'd have to have a fortune to buy your way off this planet permanently. And we try to run, you can track us down by our chips. It isn't fair."  
Hastler dipped the unlit end of his cigar into his brandy and put it back into his mouth. "It's the life you bought and paid for, no questions asked. One of your crew, what's her name? Knight? Yes, Gwyn Knight. She came here when she was fifteen. Oh, I know her passkey said that she was of legal age but it was forged. We spotted it, but we let it slide, because we're generous. She was turning tricks here in the illustrious bathrooms of our fair settlement before she finally got a job with you, years later. Quite generous of you, Keppler, taking on a lost cause like that. I admire you. I really do."  
Keppler tried to keep the anger from her face and voice. "Don't come after my crew."  
Hastler remained passive, seemingly enjoying his drink and his smoke. "Noted. So, what did Verve say?"  
Keppler calmed down. "Why would you think she said anything different?"  
Hastler smiled wide: a hunter enjoying the Game. He leaned back in his chair and enjoyed his cigar. He clamped it between his teeth as he spoke. "Verve turned off the security recorder in her office just before you entered it. That's highly irregular, in case you didn't know. So what did she say to you?"  
Keppler took a deep breath. So, they didn't know what really took place. Should she lie? Tell the truth? She went with her gut. "It was a personal matter. She propositioned me. I thought it was inappropriate at the time, but I forgave her and she let it go."  
Laeni frowned and was silent. Hastler puffed away at the cigar, took it out of his mouth and regarded it in his hand. He didn't look at her as he spoke. "So, she wanted to fuck you, is that what you're saying?"  
"Essentially," Keppler said.  
"How embarrassing," Laeni said.  
The tension in the room dissipated and Keppler relaxed considerably. She took a sip of her drink and was actually able to enjoy it.  
"Quite," Hastler said.  
"Well, not exactly protocol," Laeni said, "as you say, but relatively harmless. Wouldn't you say?"  
Hastler didn't' answer for a moment. He looked at Keppler now, still fiddling with the cigar between his fingers. "I suppose."  
"This is an excellent drink," Keppler said. "Thank you, deeply, but I've been in space for a few weeks now. I'd like to see my partner, if you don't mind."  
"Of course," Laeni said. "We'll have you driven home."  
Keppler got up and so did Laeni. Hastler stayed where he was. Keppler approached Rope, who opened the door for her.  
"Keep in touch, Captain Keppler," said Hastler from the comfort of his chair. He enjoyed his cigar and watched her leave.  
"I will," Keppler said.  
She left with Rope, resisting the urge to look back. She hoped that she wasn't sweating too much because it certainly felt like that.

Knight was half-drunk already when she noticed Fall sitting alone at a table in the bar. She squinted, made sure that she wasn't seeing things, and when she decided that she wasn't, she joined the small woman at the table. "Do you mind if I sit?"  
Fall looked up at her, looking a little skittish, like a cute, caught animal. Then she tried a smile on and gestured to an empty chair. "Sure."  
Knight practically fell into the chair and adjusted until she felt comfortable. The bar was hideous, like most places on Aurora. The walls were a uniform, ugly grey. It didn't help that all of them were dingy and dirty, worn-down.  
There were five other people in the bar, not counting the bartender, a woman approaching early old age who sat whenever she could behind the bar, looking off into the middle distance, hardly moving. The others were ex-miners or people who came to Aurora to lay low from something in their past, Knight was certain. Now they were stuck here, unable to leave, with a chip installed deep inside their bodies. Knight scoffed at the thought and scratched at an area near her navel. There was no scar but that was where they went in to install the device when she was fifteen. It itched sometimes. She wondered idly whether that was when they were checking up on her. The Company.  
Knight took a swig from her bottle. "I'm amazed."  
Fall looked suspicious. "About what?"  
Knight gestured about. "I don't see Grimes anywhere around."  
Relief on Fall's face. "No, he's back at the house."  
Knight suppressed a burp, frowned. "You live with him, right?"  
Fall nodded a little too quickly. "Yeah."  
Knight nodded and nursed her beer. "So, you're capable of doing things for yourself, then."  
Fall appeared nervous and shot a glance around the room. That attempt at a smile again. "I suppose."  
Knight put both of her elbows on the table, rested her head on her knuckles and leaned into the other woman. She smirked, then whispered. "Why are you here?"  
Fall shrugged, then seemed to remember the bottle in front of her. She grabbed it haphazardly. "I wanted a drink."  
"That's not what I meant," Knight said. "There are only a few types of people here."  
"Oh, yeah?" Fall asked.  
Knight nodded profusely. "Yeah. There are the people who were here when it was a mining colony and couldn't afford to leave when the mine was closed. Then there are those who came here after that. Those people were all escaping something. They were running and they reached the end of the line. Here."  
Fall's flashed brilliantly at her. "Which one are you?"  
Knight smiled, leaned back in her chair and took a drink. "Oh, I'm the second variety."  
Fall was pushing. "What were you running from?"  
Knight wasn't going to let her get away with anything. "You first."  
Fall raised her hands. "Me?! I just... Well, I stole some money. From the company I worked for. So I had to run."  
Knight narrowed her eyes. "All the way here?"  
Fall looked down at her beer. "All the way here, yeah."  
Knight was silent for a moment, a challenge in her eyes. She cocked her head to one side, whispered. "I don't believe you."  
Fall looked up suddenly. Knight was struck by her beauty in that small moment. The woman was answering her challenge. "What about you?"  
Knight shook her head. "I don't owe you anything."  
Fall, still with the answered challenge. "I told you, now it's your turn."  
Knight smiled, a bit nasty. "Oh, you want a lie, then. I see. Alright. I killed my parents. Been on the run since I was a teenager. A regular Bonnie & Clyde in one person, me." She laughed.  
Fall looked incredulous. "Come on."  
Knight produced a cigarette, lit it up and started smoking. "No more preposterous then your story, babe."  
Fall looked away, out the double-paned window. There was a dust storm outside. It would be a bitch getting home in this, Knight thought.  
When Fall remained silent, Knight changed tack. "So, where is Grimes?"  
Fall grabbed her bottle and played with it. "Picking up some supplies. We'll meet up later back home."  
Knight took another puff of smoke, blew it out. Then she took another drink. "What do you see in him?"  
Fall shrugged again, now looking out the window again. "I don't know. He cares about me."  
"But you don't care about him," Knight said. Fall opened her mouth to protest but Knight shushed her. "I don't mean that you're a bitch and that he means nothing to you. That's not what I mean. I mean that you don't feel the same about him. Am I right?"  
Still not meeting her gaze. "And if you were."  
Knight finished off her drink and signaled for another. The crone behind the counter sighed and got up. Knight smiled and looked back at Fall. "I won't tell. You can still pretend to be a couple if that's what works for you. Your secret's safe with me. Cross my heart."  
Fall looked at her, eyes narrow. "What gave it away?"  
Knight was silent for a moment. The crone practically slammed another drink down in front of her. Knight tipped her a salute, got to drinking. She looked at Fall. "The way Grimes talks. All big talk. He boasts. Everything he says is large, overstated. He's lying. About many things, I think."  
Fall finally met Knight' gaze. "He does care about me."  
Knight nodded. She was exhausted all of a sudden. She drained half her new drink in a single gulp, melted into her chair, thinking about arranging a ride home. "I know he does. And that's something. He may be an asshole but it's clear that he likes you. But don't be afraid of who you really are. Don't." She shook her head. Her eyes fluttered, half-closed.  
"Are you going to be alright getting home?" Fall asked.  
Knight scoffed. "I'll be fine!"  
Fall's voice sounded concerned. "No, you won't. Look, I'll give you a ride home. You're not far from us, right?"  
Knight waved a distracted hand. "Don't... don't. You don't need to do this."  
Fall sighed. It was such a cute sound. "You're drunk and there's a storm out there. Come on, let me take you home."  
Fall got up, punched the required info into the holo pad on the table, to make sure both of their tabs were paid, and went to help Knight get out of her chair. It took a moment, but soon they were heading for the airlock vestibule to collect their breathing units and head out into the grey nightmare of the surface.

"God puts obstacles in our way," Robert Watts said from his pulpit. "He's not 'nice'. Don't get that idea in your head. 'Nice'."  
He shook his head and stepped out from behind the pulpit to approach his followers. There were perhaps a dozen people in the church, scattered among the pews, many of them with hard, lined faces. They looked defeated. Watts himself was in his later fifties, his hair a fine silver. He was worn and lined like the rest of them but there was a innate goodness in him that shown outward. It was obviously why people still came to the church, despite the awful situation that they were all in.  
Like everything else on Aurora, the church was worn-down, out of date. Its walls were old and dingy but instead of the uniform grey, they had once been white, which gave it a certain uniqueness in contrast to most of the rest of the planet. There was no organ near the pulpit, no expensive altarpiece, just a man, a book and his Word.  
"Nice," Watts repeated. "God's not about 'nice.' That's what Jesus is for." There was scattered laughter. "But God can be a down-right asshole sometimes. And he's meant to be. Believe me. Hell, I don't need to convince you of that, do I? You're here, aren't you?! Hell yes, you are! This is the ass-end of the galaxy and you're stuck here, like we all are. God has put this obstacle in front of you. So that you can overcome it. He wants you to succeed. You're His creation. He made you in His image. Of course he wants you to succeed! But no one said it was gonna be easy. I never said that. He never said that, did He? Hell, no, he didn't. He cast Adam and Eve out of Paradise, didn't he? Cast them out into the world to fend for themselves. Don't you think He wanted them to succeed?"  
He walked down the small set of steps that separated the altar with the rest of the building. He put a hand on an aging woman in the front row.  
"I know it's hard," he continued. "I know it feels like you're dying everyday. And here's the bad news: you are dying. We all are. But I don't just mean us poor souls on Aurora. No, I mean every human being in the galaxy. We're all dying. Everyday. But there's good news, too. If you ask for Jesus' forgiveness, then there's something after all this waiting for you. Something great. I promise you."  
He looked across the church and saw Keppler leaning against the wall near the doors. He smiled at her.  
"Now go home to your loved ones," he said. "And if you don't have loved ones, go home and love yourselves. Please. Because He loves you and He's only doing this to make you better yourselves."  
His followers slowly got up and made their way to the vestibule to collect their breathing units and leave. Watts stayed inside, as did Keppler. They stared at each other across the room, smiling.  
When all the followers were gone, Keppler approached Watts. She shook her head.  
"Why do you even try?" she asked.  
Watts' smile didn't waver. "Because it's what I believe."  
Keppler scoffed and pushed harder. "Do you ever think that what you're doing does them more harm than help?"  
It was Watts' turn to shake his head. "Never."  
Keppler reached him and put her arms around him. "Well, at least you have confidence."  
They kissed. It was long and genuine. Truly loving.  
"I have missed you," Watts said when the kiss was over.  
Keppler seemed to consider it for a moment. "Hmm, I'm not so sure I missed you."  
Watts laughed. They sat on pews, each on a different side of the church, across the isle from each other.  
Watts sighed and settled into the pew. "How did it go?"  
Keppler smiled, thinking about the jog. "Fine. A little touch and go but we got there in the end. Good money, too."  
Watts shifted in his seat. "Ah, money. Of course. Don't look at me like that. I mean it. That's good. I'm glad for you."  
Keppler looked at him, a tiny bit of judgment on her face. "And you think I should donate to your church."  
Watts laughed again. "Never. I don't need any more money to run this church. I have all I need. I would wish that you donate to charity, though. That would be helpful."  
Keppler sighed. "I donate what I can. I'm trying to get out of here as soon as possible."  
Watts leaned forward. "I wish you wouldn't talk like that. You can do more good here than anywhere else in the galaxy. You're a good person and you're needed here."  
Keppler shook her head. "It's too painful. You didn't know my parents. You weren't there, holding her hand, when my mother died. This poisonous air. She was one of the first."  
Watts nodded slowly but his gaze never wavered. "I know."  
Keppler shook her head. "You don't know. You might have seen some of the last waves of victims but you came after the mines closed, after the do-not-breathe-outside order was issued. You didn't see the bodies in the streets. Do you know how much it took me to not cut open my stomach, rip this chip out and just fly away? Do you know what that felt like?"  
Watts maintained eye contact. "No."  
Keppler, for her part, did as well. "Then don't pass judgment on me. You haven't lived my life. I have to leave this place if I can."  
Watts felt that he had perhaps pushed a little too far. "I don't want to argue with you, honey."  
Keppler sighed. "I know you don't. And I'm sorry. But you know how I feel about this."  
Watts put up both his hands. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I'm sorry. You want to go home, get laid?"  
Keppler smiled, laughed softly. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good."  
Watts slapped both of his knees. "Well, then, let's go then. Take my hand, my lady."  
He stood up, extended a hand to Keppler. She took it gladly and they both started towards the vestibule to leave.

Knight said that she didn't need help to her front door but Fall helped her anyway. Knight lived in a building where, to Fall, it looked like at least ten other people lived. The vestibule was grimy, dirty. Fall saw something skitter across the floor but paid it no mind and proceeded into the front area. There was a wall of small mail boxes - Fall counted them in a fraction of a second: fifteen units - a door leading to an office and an elevator. There was no place to hang their breathing units - they must keep them in their apartments. Knight leaned against the wall near the elevator, head resting on the wall. Fall sighed.  
"Which floor," she said as she swiped her hand in front of the elevator call button. It flashed blue.  
"Basement," Knight said and burped.  
Fall nodded. The elevator doors opened and she pulled Knight inside with her and pushed the button for the basement.  
The elevator doors closed and they rattled down a level. When the doors opened, the smell hit Fall right away. Ammonia, most likely. Urine?  
Fall saw that the basement had been refitted to suit three more living units. Small doors that no doubt led to small apartments.  
Fall did a little turn on the spot. "Which one is yours?"  
"That one," Knight said, pointing to the unit closest to the elevator.  
Fall led her to the door. There was no facial recognition here, no breath identifier, not even a fingerprint scanner, just a card reader. Fall hadn't seen a card key in years.  
Knight fiddled in her pockets and came out with the card. She dropped it to the floor and bumped her head on the wall while bending down to pick it up. She cradled her forehead while Fall grabbed the card and inserted it into the slot.  
The door opened and Fall managed to get Knight inside, just barely. She was almost passed out by now.  
The apartment was tiny and horrible. There was a mattress on the ground, a small television - not even a holo unit - a sink and a minuscule fusion stove. There was a door that opened up into a bathroom. Fall could see a toilet, another sink and a shower. All of them were tiny. Fall was certain that Knight would have trouble in there. Hell, even she - Fall, at 1.6 meters –- would have trouble using that shower.  
But the worst part about the whole place, to Fall, was that it was neatly kept and relatively clean. If it was filthy that would have somehow been better but this... The fact that Knight tried to make it nicer than what it warranted, was much worse. That stab at dignity made it extra pathetic. Fall shook her head.  
Knight collapsed onto the mattress on her hands and knees and her muscles seemed to lock in place. She shook slightly.  
Fall dropped to her knees and put a hand on Knight' back. "Are you gonna be okay?"  
It took a moment for Knight to answer. "I'm fine."  
Fall started to get up when Knight scrambled across the apartment towards the bathroom. She started to retch but managed to make it to the toilet. Fall didn't watch but she could hear the woman vomiting.  
After it was over, Knight just stayed where she was for a while, head hanging into the toilet bowl. Then she got up, washed her mouth out at the sink and returned to the mattress. She got into bed and curled into a fetal position. She looked up at Fall, who was still on her knees near the bed. "I said I was fine. You can go."  
Fall looked at her then shook her head. "I'll stay the night."  
"There's nowhere for you to sleep!" Knight insisted, eyes already closed.  
But Fall was adamant. "It's fine."  
Knight was shouting now. "There's not even anywhere for you to sit!"  
Fall looked around. "The floor is good enough."  
Knight sighed and blew a weak, tired raspberry. "Suit yourself. Good night."  
"Good night," Fall said.  
Knight was asleep almost instantly. Fall leaned back against the wall near the mattress, pushed her knees up to her face and wrapped her arms around her legs, head buried between her knees. Nights could be long on Aurora. And who knew how long Knight needed to sleep this off.

"More?" Hastler asked.  
"Please," Laeni said.  
Hastler refilled Laeni's glass. Burbon now, straight. It was getting late but Laeni wasn't going to leave until he was absolutely sure that Hastler didn't want him there any longer.  
Laeni regarded the man as he turned to Rope to tell him that his services were no longer needed. Hastler was dressed in a lush, maroon robe with gold trimming. He looked like an aging playboy who had perhaps enjoyed life a little too much.  
When Rope was gone, door shut behind him, Hastler headed to the fireplace and turned around to look at Laeni, warming his backside. He lit another cigar and puffed away at it. "How's the plan coming along?"  
Laeni began to nod. "Well."  
A large puff of smoke emerged from Hastler's mouth. "How well?"  
Laeni nodded. "Very. My people tell me that we're at nearly full saturation. The entire colony."  
Hastler paced back and forth in front of the fireplace. "How long?"  
Laeni considered his words carefully. "We can proceed in the next week. Maybe two."  
Hastler nodded. "Good."  
Laeni looked away from Hastler, into the darkness of the room. He could still hear the other man, though. Could hear him puffing away on that cigar.  
"You have something else to say?" Hastler asked.  
"I'm just not sure about all this," Laeni said.  
Hastler stopped pacing. "A little late to develop a conscience."  
Laeni nodded. "I know. We're going forward. I understand that. It's just..."  
Hastler wandered back to his chair but did not sit. "I sympathize. Don't think that I'm heartless. I understand loss. But I also understand sacrifice. Do you, Laeni?"  
Laeni picked up his drink, swished the liquid around in the glass and took a sip. He stared into the darkness once again. The fire created flickering shadows that danced across the fine wood floors of the room. Finally, Laeni returned his gaze to Hastler. "I do."  
Hastler smiled. It was a small, sad smile. Laeni tried his best to return it but couldn't quite manage it. He hoped that in this light, Hastler wouldn't be able to tell.


	4. Chapter 4

Eight days passed before Keppler got the word from Verve and they were able to begin their mission. They shuttled up to Tosh, retrieved the relevant data from Verve, the mysterious station coordinator, got the Argo ready to fly, then they were off.  
Knight loved the moment they started off on a mission. There was still a romance to exploring the vastness of space. For her, at least. She smiled as they kicked off.  
Valentine, currently piloting alongside Fall, filled the cockpit with music, some kind of song about flying that Knight didn't recognize. She joined Valentine, kneeling down.  
"Who is this?" she asked.  
"Sugar Ray," Valentine said.  
"Yeah," Keppler said with amusement, "Valentine here may be considerably younger than me but she listens to music hundreds of years old. Figure that."  
Knight smiled and strapped herself into a chair, just in case. They were in the vacuum of space, not in any kind of atmosphere, but you never knew what could happen, especially near a space station.  
She, Rank, Grimes and Blanche currently had no duties to attend to, so they were just crowded around the cockpit, watching the station shrink in size as the enormity of the Void expanded in front of them. When they were far enough away from the station that they could assume that they wouldn't suddenly come into contact with a desperate ship attempting to dock, its stealth mode still active, Keppler got out of her chair and leaned against the console between Valentine and Fall, facing all the others.  
"Alright," she said. "Here's the plan. Verve supplied me with the intel she received. There's a ship - a very large, very old ship. It's settled into an orbit around a planet a little over a week out from where we are now. Verve wants this ship - or whatever's on it - and will be paying us handsomely for it. Since its only a week out, there's no need to waste the power on the hypersleep units, so get close, get comfortable, people. Usual shifts apply. If you need something, just ask. I've stocked the ship with everything we could need."  
"Baby oil and about a hundred six-packs?" Grimes asked with a smile which no one else returned.  
Keppler shook her head. "Like I said, get comfortable, people."  
With that, she left the cockpit, retiring to her quarters. Knight watched her go, wondering idly what her captain did in her quarters all by herself. She would always retire after successfully disembarking, settling down for a cycle or so before emerging back on deck, ready to conquer all of space.  
Knight's gaze shifted to Fall, who was looking at her. Caught, Fall looked away, embarrassed. Knight narrowed her eyes and frowned. Fall was a difficult one to read. That night, a little over a week ago now, when the young woman had stayed with Knight to make sure that she was alright, was strange. Why had she done that? Why did she feel obligated to do so? It was perplexing.  
Knight looked back out to the window full of stars ahead of her and concentrated on those. It was easier to imagine freedom out here, when they were on a mission, even if it was only an illusion.

It was late in the first cycle. Night, as far as could be reckoned in the darkness of space. Fall was by herself in the cockpit, Valentine having gone to sleep a little early, before relief came. Fall was concentrated on the stars ahead and on the readings on her console, looking out for traffic and trying to spot potential hidden ships. It was becoming more common out here, at the ass-end of space, for some pirates to kit their ships with cloaking tech, invisible to radar and tracking systems, at least. So far, there was nothing. Smooth sailing.  
Fall took a chance and looked behind her, towards the doors which opened into the rest of the ship. They were closed and it didn't look like anyone was wandering around back there. All the same, she brought up the security on her console and checked for lifeforms. Everyone was far back, in their quarters. Someone was in the engine room, but that was all.  
When she felt safe enough, Fall brought up the communications window in her console and starting inputting codes. Her face was impassive as she worked.

"Did you hear the news, reverend?"  
It was one of the flock - Gant was his name - and Watts turned to give the man his full attention. He had closed the church for the night and, hanging his breather up just outside the decontamination area, headed into the bar. The lights seemed dimmer this evening and one of them was flickering. One of them way back in the corner of the bar, near the restrooms.  
Watts smiled. "Please, Gant, just call me Watts."  
Gant looked slightly taken aback. "Alright, if you insist. Don't seem right, though."  
Watts shrugged. "But, there it is. Now, did I hear what news?"  
Gant looked excited again. "Mine's opening back up!"  
Watts' eyes narrowed and he was silent for a moment before speaking. "You're shitting me."  
Gant shook his head. "I am not shitting you, rev-- I mean, Mr. Watts, sir. I would never shit you. You done a lot of good for me and my family. All of us."  
Watts nodded encouragingly. "The least I could do. Now, what do you mean, the mine's opening back up?"  
Gant adjusted his hat. A nervous tick. "I mean just what I say: mine's opening back up!"  
Watts narrowed his eyes. "But that doesn't make any sense. I thought the whole thing was strip-mined to death. Nothing left in there. Besides, what that mine has done to the air already..."  
Gant looked confused. "Well, I don't know. Maybe they discovered a new vein or something. All I know is that me, Clark and most of the other old miners all got the word that we got our jobs back!" He got excited again. "No more meager Company charity for us! Full pay! I'm celebrating, reverend! Drinks on me!"  
He clapped Watts on the shoulder. It was a happy, hard pat and Watts found that he could smile, though something was worrying him, something that he kept to himself as Gant headed to the counter and tried to engage with the zombie-looking older woman who served as the bartender here.  
Watts looked at that old, unhappy bartender. Then his gaze shifted past her, to that flickering light in the corner of the bar. Couldn't they fix that?  
He had come here to have a drink before heading home. It had been a good week or so with Keppler but she was gone, once again, at least two weeks this time, probably more. He missed her and sometimes a little drink helped.  
But now he looked at that flickering light and didn't feel like drinking. He felt like getting the Hell out of here.  
After a moment, he did just that.

Two days after they had disembarked, Grimes walked the empty corridors of the ship late in the cycle. Stalked would perhaps be a more appropriate word. His gate suggested it: his head was bowed, almost like he was a hunchback in an ancient horror film. He smoked. The lights of the ship were dimmed and he passed into shadow, the red ember of the cigarette momentarily the only light.  
Soon, light returned, this time from a dim source emanating from the dining area of the ship. Grimes stood in the doorway of the room, smoking, looking in. Blanche sat by himself at the large, round dining table. Grimes could see a half-eaten piece of toast sitting pathetically on a plate in front of the man. The ship's doctor stared off into space. He hadn't noticed Grimes yet.  
A cruel smile formed on Grimes' lips. "Burning the midnight oil, doc?"  
Blanche visibly jumped, startled by Grimes' sudden arrival, so lost in his own thoughts was he. Grimes chuckled, smoked and idly scratched his forehead.  
"Grimes," Blanche said and nodded, trying to regain his composure. The two men lapsed into silence once more.  
Grimes found the itch in his forehead dissipating and seeming to travel through his body, down into his stomach, right about where his tracker had been installed. He scratched at the spot and looked back at Blanche. Finishing his cigarette, he tossed it aside.  
That got the doc's attention. Blanche didn't say anything but Grimes could trace the man's gaze, watched it follow the path of the thrown smoke until it hit the ground. Grimes could tell that the man wanted to say something - wanted to admonish him - but that he would remain silent, not wanting to argue the point. That was Blanche in a nutshell: anything to avoid an argument.  
Grimes entered the room and sat down at the table across from Blanche. There was still that itch in his stomach and he scratched it. Blanche noticed it, his eyes darting down to Grimes' stomach.  
"Want me to get you something for that?" the doc asked.  
Grimes sighed and stopped scratching. He folded his hands in front of him on the table and looked at the other man. "How 'bout getting it out?"  
"You mean the tracker," Blanche said. It wasn't a question. He knew exactly what Grimes was referring to.  
Grimes nodded slowly. Blanche just looked at him. Another moment of silence passed.  
It was illegal, of course, to even discuss removing their Company-mandated trackers, but Grimes wasn't going to bring that up if Blanche didn't. And he suspected that the doc was going to do no such thing.  
Blanche looked at the doorway behind Grimes, as if making sure that no one else was lurking in the shadows, then leaned forward, also folding his hands in front of him like Grimes. He spoke in little more than a whisper. "There's no way to remove it."  
Grimes immediately leaned back in his chair, away from the other man, hands unfolded now, scratching at his stomach, then at the sides of his head, trailing backwards towards the base of his skull, as if slicking back non-existent hair. "Don't tell me that, man. There's ways around everything. There are people on that rock that we call home that don't even have trackers and I'm not talking about top Company men, I'm talking about us regular folks. The dirt people. They got around it, bribed the right people, whatever."  
Blanche clicked his tongue. "If that's the case, and I have no reason to doubt you, then you should have been one of those people from the beginning. You should have bribed the right people, as you say."  
Grimes practically begged the man. "I didn't have that kind of money when I got here!"  
Blanche leaned forward. "Keep your voice down."  
"Fuck you, man." But he did quiet down. "I say I didn't have that kind of money when I got here. I was on the damn run, just like you were. Now, maybe, I'd be able to arrange it. Not saying that I have, but I'm not saying that I haven't, either. I'm just saying that I could. But then? No. Didn't have the funds. So, what about now? Huh? Now?"  
Blanche shrugged. "Now you're fucked."  
Grimes flashed a grim, hideous smile. "Eloquent. That's fantastic."  
Blanche sighed. "The tracker is embedded right in the center of your liver. Is there a way of getting it out safely? Of course there is. Is there a way to get it out safely out here in the far reaches of the ass-end of space? No, apart from breaking into the main Company medical facility, somehow not dying, stealing the equipment and performing the operation yourself, there's no way."  
Grimes grasped hold of that one. "And if we did?"  
Blanche held up one hand, the index finger extended. "One: there is no 'we'. I am not helping you break into anything, understand?" His middle finger joined the index. "Two: even if you did manage to break in, they may not even have the equipment there anymore. If you haven't noticed, no one's immigrated to Aurora in some time. No need to have that kind of expensive equipment around when it can be put to better use somewhere else."  
"So, I'm fucked," Grimes said.  
Blanche sighed and it was his turn to lean back in his chair. "Perhaps not."  
Grimes leaned forward once again, hands folded. "What do you have up your sleeve, doc?"  
Blanche spoke quietly. "I've heard of a device."  
Grimes smiled. "Yeah?"  
Blanche nodded, looking away, thinking about it. "A device that can neutralize the trackers. Effectively short circuit them without harming the individual. Without even going into the body."  
Grimes raised his eyebrows. "No surgery?"  
Another nod from Blanche. "No surgery."  
Grimes held up a hand. "Forgive me, doc, but it sounds a little too good to be true."  
Blanche gestured with both of his hands. "And that may very well be the case. But I've heard talk."  
Grimes smiled. "You?! You've heard talk?! Who've you been talking to?"  
Blanche was still looking away. "People. Not exactly the most above-board people."  
Grimes was silent for a moment, imaging it. His smile was still wide. "Holy shit. Doc down among the dirt. I don't believe it."  
Blanche stuck to the main points. "Regardless, there's been talk. They call it a neutro. A small, handheld device. Turn it on, run it over the stomach, tracker's neutralized. It becomes just a small piece of metal in your body. Harmless."  
Grimes tapped the table in front of him. "And you think these are real?"  
Blanche waved a dismissive hand. "I think it's a possibility. It's been offered to me."  
Grimes' mouth dropped open. "No shit? How much?"  
Blanche cocked a head to one side. "A lot."  
Grimes leaned back in his chair once again. "Isn't everything?"  
Blanche leaned back, as well. "Yes. I rather think you've hit the nail on the head there."  
Grimes looked away, did something arithmetic in his head. "I'll see what I've got. Right now. Maybe it's enough."  
Blanche nodded. "Maybe."  
Grimes looked at him, smirked. "Good talking with you, doc."  
Blanche nodded. Grimes got up from the table and left the dining room. In his head, he was already flipping through his contacts.

After Grimes left, Blanche produced the small bottle of QR7 that he had acquired on Tosh. There was only enough left for ten doses. With a small flourish, he swept his head back and administered a drop in each eye. Immediately, he felt better. So much better. It wouldn't last but it was worth it.  
He hated space. Hated being out here.  
But what else was there?

The Lycia was a small ship, carrying no more than a few crew members. It was designed to move quickly, stealthily, to get out of situations without being noticed. At the moment, Timothy Io was at the helm, which was one central chair pushed perhaps a little too close to the windshield for Io's comfort, but it got the job done. Fishing around with one hand dipped down on the right side of the chair - while keeping his eyes on the windshield and display in front of him - he succeeded in grabbing what he wanted: a large cup filled to its sealed top with some choice bug juice. He flicked open the lid and drank deep.  
The motion caused his glasses to almost slide off the bridge of his nose but he managed to stop it with his free hand. He was young, late twenties, with close-cropped dark hair and signs of adolescent acne that had never quite healed properly.  
Just as he was adjusting his glasses, his console display started to beep at him. He almost dropped his bug juice in surprise. Setting it aside, he activated the alert, reading it to himself. He smiled and opened a comms channel.  
"Cap'n," he said over the open line.  
"What is it?" Louis Marlowe answered almost immediately. Must have had a bout of insomnia, Io thought.  
"Just got a message, cap'n," Io said.  
"I'll be right there," Marlowe said.  
And he was. Yanni Zorn, the only other crew member of the Lycia, was sleeping it off somewhere, but Marlowe seemed to be waiting for this message. He joined Io less than a minute after being contacted.  
"Message from our spy," Io said as Marlowe entered the cockpit.  
"Excellent," Marlowe said.  
He was on the short side, compact but tough-looking. His eyes seemed too close together and his blonde hair crested a high forehead. Io didn't know his age, but guessed that he was approaching fifty.  
Marlowe brought up the message on the small display on his left wrist. A holo screen popped up and Marlowe nodded through the message. That was all: no elation, suspicion or disappointment. Just those nods. The man was impossible to read.  
After he finished, he clicked off his holo display and put a hand on the chair that Io was sitting in. He tapped his forefinger a few times.  
"Good news?" Io tried.  
"Just an update on Argo's location," Marlowe said.  
Io smirked. "Always good having someone on the inside, wouldn't you say?"  
"I would. Actually, I would." No smile, though. Never a smile.  
Marlowe turned and left the cockpit, leaving Io alone once again. The young man was tempted to look at the message himself. Technically, it was locked and could only be accessed by Marlowe through a pin but Io could easily find a way around that. But he resisted the temptation. He trusted his captain, despite his tight lip.  
He sucked down another mouthful of bug juice before getting back to the job of monitoring space.

Another day passed. Off shift, Rank walked down the main corridor, his Ghost Ships paperback book cradled in one hand, open. He liked to read as much as possible when he had a good book to pursue, even if he was walking.  
He was headed for a shower at the moment. There was one central space for showers, with three shower-heads overseeing a green tiled room that was flanked by lockers and cabinets for towels and other supplies.  
Rank entered this room, not seeing Valentine until he nearly ran into her. Rank looked up, saw the woman's nude body, went red and half-turned away.  
Valentine laughed. "What? Not like you haven't seen me before."  
Rank only smiled and was silent. It was true: the shower room had always been co-ed, so he had seen the entire crew naked at some point. But with Valentine it was different. He was ashamed of himself for thinking about her in that way but he couldn't help himself. So, he looked away whenever possible.  
Another laugh from Valentine. "I'll put on a towel. Don't worry."  
He heard her pulling a towel from the rack. When he felt it was appropriate, he finally looked at her again. She was, indeed, now hidden under a towel. Lovely Valentine, her dark skin looking especially radiant freshly cleansed.  
"I'm not a painting, Rank," she said. "Stop looking at me like I am one. You could try talking to me. Not many people talk to paintings, so that would be a start."  
She opened her locker and hit a few buttons on her personal pad. Some old song filled the shower room. Rank frowned.  
"Who's this?" he asked.  
"Green Day," she said.  
Rank shook his head. "Never heard of them."  
Valentine was still fiddling with things in her locker. "Well, they're old."  
Rank smirked. "I had figured that out."  
She turned to him, smiling. Rank smiled back. Or tried to, anyway.  
"Sass," she said. "Nice. That's what I'm talking about, my friend. Good on you."  
Rank smiled himself but had to turn away again. She was about to take the towel off to get dressed.  
"I like people who speak their mind," Valentine said.  
Not looking. He couldn't look. Looking would be too much for him. She knew. Knew how he felt about her. It was embarrassing. He could hear her as she took the towel off, could hear her as she rustled through her locker, hear her as she was getting dressed. He looked down at his book once again, not really reading, just using it as a prop, trying to convince the lovely woman that he wasn't interested in her.  
It didn't work, obviously. He could feel it. When she was finished dressing, Valentine approached him. He could smell her freshly-cleansed skin. She leaned into him, whispered into his ear. "If you need me, I'll be in my bunk."  
She patted his shoulder and left, taking her music with her. When she was gone, Rank sighed, put his book in his locker and started to get undressed. A cold shower, then, it seemed.

Off shift, on the same day, Keppler lay in her bunk looking at the ceiling. It was a simple grey/green bulkhead, same as the rest of the ship, nothing to write home about. But home was what she was thinking of.  
Home and Watts.  
They were the same thing, really. She didn't know why she had stayed with the man long enough for him to feel like home. They had little in common. She wasn't religious, he was a true believer. She was born among the dredges of the outer regions, he was born near the core, in relative luxury.  
She knew what initially interested her about the man. His eyes, his smile. But after that? God only knew.  
She smiled and grabbed a small holoframe from the alcove directly to the side of her bed. She turned it on and a tiny, holographic version of Watts appeared at the center of the devise.  
"I don't know what you want me to say," he said.  
Offscreen, Keppler could hear her own voice, prompting him. "This is for when I'm away. Say something nice. Come on, you're ruining it!"  
The holo Watts held up both his hands, annoyed, but the words that followed were genuine. "I miss you lots. I know you're out there with a bunch of madmen - and women - but know that I'm with you, too. Right here." He pointed to his heart. "Our souls are one. We can't be separated."  
Keppler smiled. Home.  
That was the goal. Money may be the answer but the goal was home. And home didn't have to be Aurora. It was wherever Watts was.  
"That good enough?" the holo Watts said with a smile.  
Then he disappeared. Keppler, still smiling herself, set the holoframe in the alcove and tried to get a good night's sleep.

Knight looked at Fall for a moment before disturbing her. She - Knight - was standing in the doorway of Fall's bunk, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed. She supposed that she wasn't disturbing the other woman - the door was open - but it seemed wrong to shake her out of her relaxation. A stick of incense burned nearby, filling the air with a pungent, though paradoxically pleasant, smell.  
Fall was laying on her bunk, screen in hand. It looked like she was reading something. Frequently, she flicked her finger across the screen, as if turning pages. She was a fast reader, Knight concluded with a smile. Finally, she knocked on the doorframe. Fall looked up at her, looking surprised but not disturbed.  
"Wanna get shitfaced?" Knight asked as she produced a flask from her pocket and swished it about. "You know? Nasty."  
"No," Fall said but she was still smiling.  
Knight affected a crooked smile. "Then can I get shitfaced in your company?"  
She sat up, putting her screen to one side and indicating a spot next to her. "Please."  
Knight entered the room and sat down next to Fall. She took a swig of her flask and pointed at Fall's screen. "What are you reading?"  
"Oh, some old noir," Fall said.  
Knight cocked her head to one side. "Noir?"  
Fall swished a hand in a circle. "Crime thriller. Pulp."  
Knight nodded. "That's cool. It any good?"  
Fall raised her eyebrows. "Pretty good. Honestly, I kinda like em all."  
"I get it." Another swig.  
"Do you read?" Fall asked.  
Knight swallowed down her drink, nodded. "Yeah, sure. Sexy stuff, mostly. But I like movies more. You like movies?"  
Fall smiled. "I do. Maltese Falcon, Casablanca. The Set-Up: that's a good one."  
Knight considered. "Old movies, huh? I wouldn't have guessed."  
Fall nodded, excitedly. "Old movies, old books."  
Knight took another swig of her drink. "You and Rank would get along great."  
Fall thought about it. "We get along pretty well. But he's into history books and stuff like that. Doesn't interest me very much."  
Knight nodded. "I hear ya. I mean, I love old tech, but... Get enough history rooting around all these old ships we pick up."  
Fall smiled at that. The two of them shared a moment of comfortable silence. Knight took another drink, then considered. "You're a complete mystery to me."  
Fall held her gaze for a moment before breaking it, looking down. She spoke into her own, folded hands. "What do you mean? I'm an open book."  
Knight smirked, her eyes bright. Then she smiled wide. "You sure you don't want any of this?" She held up her flask.  
"Fine," Fall said, looking up again, "hand it over."  
"That's my girl," Knight said.  
She handed the flask over, which Fall took with no little trepidation. She held it in front of her lips for a moment, then closed her eyes and took a swig. She winced as the liquid went down her throat. It took her another moment to recover. "Jesus, what the fuck's in this?"  
"You don't wanna know," Knight said with a soft, loving laugh.

A day later, deep into the sleep cycle of the ship - night, as far as could be reckoned out here in the Void - Blanche couldn't sleep. This was common for him on longer hauls without any cryo.  
This particular night, he sat in the small space that he thought of as his office and fiddled with a pen in his hand. Spinning it, rolling it along his fingers and knuckles.  
He looked again at the small bottle of QR7 on the desk in front of him. He had been considering taking another dose for the past hour. So far, he had resisted. There weren't many doses left. He had already taken too many and they were only a few days on the job, plus he had taken at least one dose that he could remember while they were on the surface of Aurora, waiting on the go-ahead on this job. No, best to leave it for when he really felt like he needed it, when the stress was hammering down on him extra hard.  
But he had to have something to do, something to take his mind off it when he couldn't sleep. He sighed and turned on his screen, opened the medical records of the crew. Ah, medical records, the last place to turn to when boredom ate its way into you. He hadn't looked through them in some time. No need to, really. He checked and inoculated the crew whenever they went off ship during a job, just in case they were exposed to anything. But, on a long night like tonight, why not have a look at his colleagues?  
This killed some time and took his mind off things. It was when he came to Fall's file that he paused, totally perplexed.  
There was nothing.  
No medical history at all. How was that possible? He searched his mind for an answer and finally came up with one: she had never been off ship during a job. Always in the cockpit, ready to get the ship moving if necessary.  
Still, there should have been some kind of rudimentary medical records to begin with, something from before she joined the crew. It didn't make any sense.  
Suspicion started to prey on Blanche's mind. He wasn't thinking about the little bottle of QR7 at all.

The same night, some hours later, Grimes was getting off shift. He entered the small room that he shared with Fall, expecting her to be there, asleep or - more likely - awake and reading or researching something. But she wasn't there.  
He had to be honest with himself: he was upset that she had been spending more and more time away from him. Away from their room. Even if they were a fake couple, he liked being around her.  
But there was no reason to cry over spilled milk, as his mother most certainly did not say. He pulled an old-fashioned notepad from his pocket. It was well-used, worn. He flipped it open and studied it as he sat down on his bunk.  
It was a list of names and contact information. If known, a planet was listed alongside this information. Grimes started to review each name on the list, sometimes speaking to himself under his breath.  
"Nope, he's dead."  
"In prison."  
"Hates my guts."  
"Ran off with underage waitress. Whereabouts unknown."  
It was getting harder and harder to find good underworld contacts who didn't shoot first, ask questions later these days. He was hoping that one of these contacts could provide him with a neutro, as the doc had described to him. Surely, he could find a better contact than the fucking ship doctor could.  
As the names went by, each one less and less likely to give him what he wanted, his mood began to drop. Sleep was appealing. Booze, more so. He began looking about the room to see if he had any of the latter left.

Fall waited until Valentine left her post on the bridge - bathroom break, most likely - before slinking to the communications station. She keyed in, covering her tracks as she did, and got to work, her hands working extra fast.  
Time was not on her side.

Yanni Zorn was a large man with deep, dark skin and a grizzled face. He always seemed to have a long, brown cigarette clamped between his teeth, just idly puffing away at it, liking the feel of it in his mouth more than anything else.  
At the moment, he was on the bridge of the Lycia, relieving Io. His job was simple: keep on their current course and monitor communications. Boring, really.  
That was the worst part. It was fun, sometimes, being a pirate out in the Void. You robbed ships of valuable cargo, sell off the goods for the best price you could get, spend the profit on whatever struck your fancy, be that drink, food, whores. Zorn liked the boyish men on Razorback Reach, himself, but never said no to good booze and even better food.  
But times like these made the job feel repetitive and old. It was exhausting, in a way.  
To relieve the boredom, he was currently watching pornography on his portable screen which was propped between the flight sticks. In the video he was watching, a black stud was pounding away at a rather effeminate boi - of age, though; even he wouldn't sink so low, pirate though he may be.  
Zorn blew a large puff of smoke into the recycled air and leaned back in the chair. He put his feet up on the console, something that Marlowe would never allow but he wasn't here, so fuck him.  
Just as he was getting comfortable, the communicator beeped, indicating an incoming message. Zorn almost fell out of his chair. Now he would have to signal Marlowe. What an inconvenience. It was as if he was being punished for putting his damn feet up on the console.  
Zorn sighed, turned off the video - that he was very much enjoying - set his feet on the floor once again and got a hold of Marlowe through the network. So much for relaxation.

The next day, Blanche caught Fall in the main corridor, heading towards the bridge. The young woman was walking with a purpose, moving fairly quickly, making Blanche work twice as hard to keep up. He spoke up, which finally stopped her.  
"Fall," he said.  
She stopped, turned in place to regard him. Her expression was unreadable. "What?"  
Blanche caught up to her, out of breath. "Got a moment?"  
Fall sighed. "I suppose."  
Blanche considered his words. "After you get off duty tonight, I want you to stop by my office."  
Fall looked confused. "What for?"  
"A physical," Blanche said.  
Fall smiled as if he had just told a joke and she was being polite. "I don't understand."  
"Nothing serious," Blanche said. "I'd just like you to come in."  
Fall crossed her arms. "Is that really necessary? I mean, I haven't been off ship recently."  
Blanche clicked his tongue. "You haven't been off ship ever, as far as I can tell."  
Fall seemed to brighten. "Well, it's settled, then. I don't need a physical."  
She made to leave, started to turn, but Blanche reached out and grabbed her arm. Fall looked down at his hand.  
"I think you do," Blanche said.  
"Take your hand off me," Fall said.  
Blanche held on for a moment longer, waiting until she looked up at him. When she did, he let go, gently.  
"Sorry," he said.  
"No need to be," she said.  
Blanche began to backpedal. "You see, I don't have a medical history for you at all. And that worries me somewhat."  
Fall cocked her head. "Should it?"  
"What?" Blanche asked.  
"Worry you?" Fall insisted. "Why would you be worried?"  
Blanche was silent for a moment, thinking. "It means I don't know anything about you. You're an unknown. You're the X in an equation and I happen to not like leaving equations unfinished."  
"You're treating me like I'm some kind of science experiment, doc," Fall said with a smile.  
"It is not serious but I'd like you stop in," Blanche said. "If it isn't asking too much."  
"And if it is?" Fall asked.  
"I'd still prefer it if you came in to see me."  
Fall's eyes narrowed once again. "You've already seen every inch of me."  
Blanche was caught off guard by this. "What?"  
"In the shower," Fall explained. "Don't pretend like you don't look at me. I know you've looked. You like seeing me all wet and naked. I'm not interested, doc. I'm with someone."  
"No," Blanche said, "that's not it at all. I'm a doctor, I'm curious. I look at everyone."  
"Just me more than anyone else," Fall said.  
"The fuck's going on here?"  
Blanche jumped as Grimes spoke this from behind him. The doctor turned and saw the man enter the corridor from his room - their room, his and Fall's - eating a cup of yogurt with a little spoon.  
"I was just speaking to Fall here--" Blanche began.  
"I heard," Grimes cut him off. "Sounded like you were giving orders."  
"Nothing of the sort," Blanche insisted. "I was merely--"  
"Merely," Grimes cut him short again. "That describes you pretty well. You 'merely' work here, like the rest of us. You were 'merely' a doctor once, am I right? You aren't anymore."  
Blanche looked down, unable to meet the man's gaze. Fall watched the two of them, eyes darting back and forth.  
"It's true," Blanche said, still looking down.  
Grimes finished his yogurt with a strong, decisive lick of his little spoon, then tossed both it and the cup over his shoulder. "So, if you're not a doctor, you can't order us at all. Captain is the only one that can give orders around here. Am I right?"  
Blanche made himself look up. His eyes were wide. "Correct."  
Grimes spread his hands out expansively. "Well, then."  
Blanche spoke in almost a whisper. "May I ask?"  
"What?" Grimes said.  
"May I ask?" Blanche repeated, now looking at Fall. "May I ask you, politely, to come in?"  
"You can ask," Fall said softly.  
"And? Your answer?"  
"My answer is no," Fall said as she turned and left, heading once more towards the cockpit.  
Grimes clapped a hand on Blanche's shoulder, hard. "You heard the lady. She doesn't want to come in, have you prod her. Sounds pretty reasonable to me."  
"And if I take this to the captain?" Blanche said.  
Grimes didn't back away from him. "You're welcome to but I'd think twice about that."  
Blanche held his ground. "And why is that?"  
"Because then I might tell her about your little secret," Grimes said with a nasty smile.  
"My secret?" Blanche said, eyes narrowed.  
"Doc... Come on. You think I don't recognize the symptoms?" He leaned in, whispered into Blanche's ear. "I can spot a QR7 addict a kilometer away."  
Another clap on the shoulder, this one even harder, and then the man was gone, back into the room he shared with Fall. Blanche stayed where he was in the middle of the corridor, his eyes darting back and forth, like he was watching a tennis match, though there was nothing in front of him but empty hallway.

Later that cycle, Rank - off shift - lay on his bunk, door open, the only light in the small space that passed for his room being tiny, illuminating only the book he was reading. He turned a page, fascinated with the mystery of the Mary Celeste. How could the entire crew of a ship just disappear, no trace of them at all? It was perplexing, engaging.  
Part of his mind longed and asked for sleep. Another part told him to keep reading, to see if more would be revealed. These two parts of his mind fought for the next few minutes.  
Then Valentine appeared in the open doorway of his room and offered a third possibility that he hadn't considered. She leaned in the doorway, almost posing, a coquettish smile on her face.  
Rank put his book aside, started to sit up - started to speak - but Valentine shushed him with a finger to her lips. She stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. She set her music down: it was already playing some old pop song.  
She started to undress. Rank stared, dumbfounded, mouth open in shock. After a moment, he also started to disrobe.  
She approached him, got on top of him, whispering in his ear. "I hope you don't mind the Britney Spears."  
He nodded furiously, though he had no idea what she was talking about. She kissed him and things progressed from there.  
It was all so... unexpected. Though not unpleasant, he had to admit.

Another day passed. Blanche sat in his office, once again looking at the little bottle of QR7 in front of him. He stared at it for more than a full minute before standing up from the desk.  
"Right," he said to himself.  
He left the office, heading down the main corridor decisively, footfalls heavy, deliberate. He caught Keppler as she was about to enter her own quarters.  
"Captain," he said.  
She sighed and turned to him, elbow wedged in the doorway, hand to chin. "Time for my physical, doc?"  
Blanche crossed the distance between them, getting up as close as he felt comfortable. "No, no, nothing like that. It's... Well, it's complicated."  
Keppler frowned, changed position, crossed her arms: captain mode. "What is it, Blanche?"  
Blanche looked away from her for a moment, then steeled his courage and looked back. "It's two things. First of all, I want you to know how grateful I am that you've allowed me my post here, despite the fact that I no longer hold a license to practice. After defrauding all those patients, I never thought I'd have an opportunity like this ever again. And I couldn't stand being on the run."  
"Doc, you're a--"  
"Please," Blanche interrupted. "Don't think that I'm being rude for cutting you off but I have to say this. I appreciate you. I appreciate this crew. I appreciate the fact that I've been able to help you, even in such small ways. After I'm done speaking, you may no longer want me as part of your crew, but I must speak. Believe me." He sighed and wiped sweat from his brow. "I'm a QR7 addict."  
"Jesus," Keppler said.  
"Yes, it's bad. Extremely. I've fallen back into old habits. It's the stress. Being out here among the Void. Too much pressure. So, there, that's done. You can dismiss me when we get back to Tosh Seven, I've made my peace with that, but I had to tell you before someone else brought it to you. And now to the second point." He paused.  
Keppler narrowed her eyes. "And the second?"  
"Captain," Blanche began, "I have my suspicions about Fall."  
"Tell me."  
He did.

Another cycle gone, another day closer to their destination. Knight was alone in the engine room, near the end of her shift. She was stripped down to only pants and a simple white tank top, covered in sweat and grime, laying on the ground under one of the power couplings, which she had pulled out to examine. It was about two feet off the ground, perpendicular to the floor, about four feet long. Big. If something were to dislodge it, it would certainly crush Knight under its immense weight.  
Knight was so engrossed in her work that she didn't hear another person enter the room. If she had looked, she would have seen a pair of boots nearby. But she didn't.  
"Got a minute?" the visitor asked.  
Knight was so surprised that she started in fright, bumped her head on the power coupling and yelped in shock and pain. As she slid out, the visitor - Fall - came to her aid, leaning down and grabbing hold of her.  
"You okay?" Fall asked.  
Knight nodded, disentangled herself from Fall's grasp and sat up. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I was just finishing here."  
Fall gave her some room and Knight stood up, punched a sequence into the terminal and the power coupling recessed back into the wall. She grabbed a rag and wiped her hands of excess grime. They were still considerably dirty.  
"What's on your mind?" she asked.  
"I'm feeling..." Fall began but trailed off. Then: "I'm worried."  
Knight leaned against a long counter along one wall near Fall and grabbed her cigarettes. She lit one up. "About?"  
Fall circled in place, took a few steps away, then a few more back towards Knight. "Blanche suspects me of something."  
Knight drew in a lungful of smoke, blew it out. "Does he have grounds to be suspicious?"  
Fall dropped her hands to her sides, opened and closed her fists, then shook both of her arms. Knight frowned as she watched the woman. Fall drifted back and forth a few steps, then actually sat down on the ground of the engine room. Knight, still smoking, still frowning, sat down as well, facing the other woman.  
Fall adjusted her head and Knight could hear an audible crack. Fall sighed. "Okay. Okay. I haven't been totally honest."  
"With whom?" Knight asked.  
"With anyone," Fall said.  
"Sounds like his fears might be justified, then."  
Fall closed her eyes, covered them with her hands. "I know, I know. It's fucked up."  
Knight took another drag, then looked away. She couldn't bear to see Fall in this much pain.  
"I've been withholding," Fall said, dropping her hands away from her face, eyes now wide open. "But I'm not here to hurt anyone! I'm not! I'm here to help. To help you, to help everyone."  
Knight looked at her, curiously. "What do you mean? Everyone? What does that mean?"  
"Humanity. It means the human race. I... I just... No one would understand what I'm trying to do. There's no one still alive that would understand, at least not anyone that would be sympathetic." She covered her face again, looking exhausted.  
Knight scooted towards the other woman. After a moment, she put an arm around her. "I don't know what's bothering you but you know what? I don't care. All I care about is you. Right now. What you've done in the past doesn't make you who are today. What makes you valuable to me, to this crew, is what you've done for us during our jobs. And you've proven, time and again, what a value you are to this crew. Believe me."  
Fall shook her head but she once again dropped her hands away from her face and looked at Knight. "If you knew the truth about me." She shook her head.  
Knight shrugged. "If and when you're ready to tell me, then I'll be here. And whatever it is, it won't matter. I like you for you are. Right now. Not whoever you were before."  
"How?!" Fall pushed away from Knight, stood up. In frustration, she punched a wall. It impacted harder than Knight expected it to. "How do I know that you would accept me? How do I know that you wouldn't run screaming away from me if you knew the truth about me?! Huh? It's not like you've been honest with me. You haven't told me why you're on Aurora. So how do I know?"  
Knight was silent for a moment. She finished her cigarette, stubbed it out on the floor and stood up. She turned away from Fall but started to speak. She couldn't look at her as she told the story. At least, not yet.  
"Okay," she said. "I'll tell you. Why I'm stuck on Aurora. You've heard of Sister?"  
"Sister?"  
"Seegson Sister."  
Fall opened her mouth to speak, then stopped, silent, her mouth open in shock. She finally seemed to find her voice. "That... No."  
Knight nodded, still not looking at Fall. "My fathers were salvage, like me. Did you know that? Why would you? Anyway, they worked the salvage game for years. When I was thirteen, we lived on Cypress Station, near the Rim. You know where it is. Or was. One day, my dads got home from a job. They were tough guys but this one rattled them. This one was an old ship. Real old, like almost two hundred years old. Old Weyland Yutani ship. Been drifting through the Frontier for decades. It was so far outside the space lanes, no one spotted it. Computer was smashed beyond repair. Whole crew had been violently killed. They were just mummies, though, and my dads had seen plenty of dead bodies, that didn't bother them. But there was something. Something about that ship. I don't know. It bothered them."  
Knight fetched another cigarette from her pack and lit up. She found the courage to face Fall now but couldn't look her in the eye. Fall, for her part, stared up at Knight, still sitting on the ground. She was entranced.  
"So they turned in the ship," Knight continued, "made themselves a hefty profit. Old sturdy ship, more money, right? They didn't take many personal items from the ship. Nothing of any real value there. But they did grab a briefcase that one of the company men had on him. They brought that home. Fuck, they brought it home!" Tears formed in her eyes. "Jesus Christ, dad, my the fuck did you bring that briefcase home?"  
She wiped away the tears and continued. "So there was this briefcase. Sure, little Gwyn, you can have whatever's in it. What could be the harm in that? How could they have known? So I rummaged through the thing. Nothing much in there. But I did find a disc. An old interface disc. Plastic. Very retro." She shook her head, remembering. "And I love old shit, old tech. So I boot it up. Cypress still had the inputs to take old shit like that. Turns out the disc has an old program on it. An AI."  
Fall nodded, eyes still transfixed but mouth closed now. She silently prompted Knight to continue.  
Knight obliged, sitting down on the ground once again, taking another drag on her cigarette. "I booted it up. And she spoke to me. Jesus, I can still remember the voice. That fucking voice. Sweet and poisonous. 'I am Sister,' it said. And Sister became my friend. For a little while." Knight flicked her cigarette away and fished around in her pocket until she found her flask. She popped it open and took a drink. "Turns out that 'Sister' was a Trojan Horse. A very old, very malevolent Trojan Horse. She was designed by Seegson Electronics, an old rival to Weyland Yutani. The idea was to introduce her into a Weyland Yutani computer system and Sister would take over, replacing the Company's AI with her. And then Sister would begin to disrupt systems, break things, cause havoc. Do this to enough ships, enough stations, then the Company's stock would lower, put their rival in a better position to take over the market."  
Knight stopped, tears welling up in her eyes again. "A fucking corporate spy! A fucking... agent! For a company that didn't even exist anymore!"  
She wiped away the tears and drew in a deep breath, took another drink, continued. "Anyway, Sister recognized that Cypress was owned by Weyland Yutani, recently risen from the dead!" She shook her head again. "So it began to do its job. Forget that Seegson wasn't around anymore. What did that matter to Sister? What did that matter to her programming? She was programmed to do a job and she was damn well going to do it!"  
Fall looked away now but Knight continued, unabated.  
"But Sister was just a prototype," she said, "as far as I could tell. And she had gone insane. She had killed everyone on that old ship and that's what she started to do on my station. My home. She butchered people. Closed doors on them. Dropped them down elevator shafts. Ejected them into the Void. Finally, the powers that be caught on to what was happening, ordered an evacuation. It was chaos. Fucking chaos."  
Knight put her flask away and scooted close to Fall once again, forcing the other woman to look at her. Knight took hold of both of Fall's hands, comforted by their warmth.  
"Sister tried to stop them," she said. "She closed off access roots, turned off life support to others. Jesus, did it take some fucking ingenuity to get out of that station. I crawled into a shaft so tiny that most larger cats wouldn't have fit into. Just to get a corridor clear. I made it out. Two hundred and seven of us did. And the rest? The sixty-one thousand, three-hundred and twelve? Sister killed them all. When she saw that we were escaping, she activated the station's self-destruct. I made it out. My dads didn't."  
Fall made Knight let go of her so she could take her face in both hands. Knight looked at the other woman.  
"One of them was ripped apart," Knight said. "Sister made a cooling tank in a wall near us explode. The shrapnel diced him. It was like seeing a cheese grater tear through a gerbil. I've never seen so much blood."  
She stopped, not able to go on for a moment. Tears ran down her face. She leaned forward, touching Fall's forehead with her own.  
"The other was trapped under a fallen support beam," Knight continued. "He was still alive when the others pulled me away from him. I was screaming as I was forced onto the escape pod. I don't remember much after that. The station exploded not long after we got away. I remember seeing that. Have you seen an explosion in space? It's amazing. There's an outrush of air, debris, then it all gets sucked back into itself because of the vacuum. Incredible. Beautiful. And terrible. And it was my fault. All of it. My fault."  
The tears came in a waterfall now and Fall folded her arms around the other woman. Knight buried her head in Fall's shoulder and Fall did the same. They said nothing for a moment, Knight crying, Fall silent.  
When it was over, Knight spoke again, head still buried in Fall's warmth. "So you see, I don't care about your past. It can't be any worse than mine."  
Fall immediately grabbed Knight by the neck and forced her up. Forced her to look into her eyes.  
"It wasn't your fault," she said. "You couldn't have known. You were just a kid."  
Knight nodded. "I've told myself that for years. But I don't know if I believe it."  
They looked at each other silently for almost a full minute. Then the kiss came.  
It was rough, dirty, passionate. Their hands were everywhere. They stood up, Knight pushing the other woman into the wall. Fall's clothes were instantly a mess; Knight' grimy hands soiling every bit of her.  
Knight grabbed hold of Fall's crotch with one hand, hard. Hot. She was so hot. Every inch of her. All thoughts were pushed out of her head, replaced by something more primal, something animal. Pure Id.  
Fall responded, grabbing hold of Knight' ass, the small of her back, a breast. They couldn't keep their hands off each other.  
"My quarters," Knight said between kisses, completely out of breath. "Now."  
They rushed down the main corridor. No one was there to see them but it wouldn't have mattered if there was.  
They reached Knight' quarters, slamming the door open and practically falling inside the small space. Fall managed to close the door behind them and collapsed onto Knight' bunk. Their combined weight broke one of the bunk's legs and they tumbled to the floor. They laughed between kisses.  
Joy. Such joy. Nothing but joy.  
For these few precious moments, at the very least.


	5. Chapter 5

Knight and Fall were lying together in the collapsed remains of Knight' bunk. Knight was on her back, head almost touching the floor. She could feel blood rushing to her head. Fall lay in the opposite direction, on her stomach, head angled up. At some point, they had both managed to put on simple underwear and undershirts: white, utilitarian. Knight wished she had a cigarette but she had left the pack in the engine room.  
"I..." Fall began but trailed off.  
Knight smiled and placed a hand on the small of the woman's back. "What?"  
Fall smiled back at her lover. "I didn't know it could be like that."  
Knight laughed. "Babe, you've been missing out."  
Fall was still smiling wide. "I guess so." She rolled onto her back and turned around, so that they were now both facing the same direction. They kissed. This one was soft and loving, almost exhausted from everything: the outpouring of emotion, the talk, the sex.  
There was a comfortable silence between them that Knight didn't want to break. But she sighed and spoke. "We should probably fix my bunk."  
"That's a good idea," Fall said.  
She started to get up when the door to Knight's room opened suddenly. The two of them could already hear talk.  
"I'm telling you," Grimes said, "there's no reason she'd be in there. She..."  
The open door revealed Keppler, Grimes and Blanche. Grimes had trailed off when he saw the state of the two women.  
Blanche looked at Grimes. "Still want to maintain that she's just your girlfriend, Grimes?"  
"I..." Grimes began. "I don't..." And that was all. He looked away, hurt.  
Keppler hadn't taken her eyes off Fall. Now she spoke to the woman. "Out. Now."  
The three of them made room as Fall and Knight made their way into the main corridor. Knight wished she had a cigarette more than anything now, although for completely different reasons than previously.  
"What the fuck is going on?" Knight demanded.  
"I'll tell you what's going on," Keppler said. "We have a spy among us."  
"What?" Knight said.  
The rest of the crew began to emerge: poking their heads out of their quarters or peaking in from their stations. Valentine looked on while standing in the doorway of the cockpit.  
"I have it on good authority," Keppler said, "that there is a Company spy on my ship. Someone who's been feeding the Company information and possibly more. Now, I may contract with the Company but on my ship, I am in command, and I will not have any spies aboard."  
"Of course not!" Knight said. "I'm not a spy!"  
Keppler sighed. "I didn't think you were, Knight."  
Knight looked around, confused. "Well, then... Who are you accusing here?"  
Keppler looked pointedly at Fall. The smaller woman backed away, towards Knight's quarters. Knight didn't know what to think. She frowned. "A spy?"  
Blanche stepped forward. "She has no medical history."  
Keppler nodded furiously. "A plant. She's a fucking plant from the Company."  
Grimes shook his head. "What? That's a bunch a horse shit. If she's a plant, why didn't they have records already made for her?"  
Keppler shot daggers at him. "They slipped up!"  
"Right," Grimes maintained, "the uber-rich Company made an error. Are you listening to yourself?"  
Keppler got in Grimes' face. "Okay. If she isn't a spy then why does she have no medical history? What is she covering up?" She then approached Fall directly. "Huh? What explanation do you have for that?"  
Fall looked to Grimes for defense but he turned away, shame written all over his face. She frowned.  
That's when Rank spoke up. "The flight recorder."  
"What?" Keppler said.  
Rank explained. "The flight recorder. If anyone's been acting funny, we can look at the flight logs."  
"Great idea, Rank," Keppler said, "but the flight recorder hasn't worked in months. Haven't had the money to fix it yet."  
Fall looked at Rank, grateful but disappointed. She then looked to Knight, clutched her arm. "Knight?"  
"What is she going to do?" Keppler asked. "How is she going to help you?"  
But Fall wasn't paying attention to her captain. She was looking at Knight. Knight was silent for a moment, then she shook her head, still confused, and spoke. "A fucking spy?"  
Fall sighed before speaking up. "I'm not what you think I am. I'm not here to work against you. I'm here to help. Maybe not now but sometime. I'm... I'm looking for something."  
"What are you looking for?" Keppler asked with contempt.  
Fall looked away from them, suddenly interested in her own two feet. "You wouldn't believe me."  
Blanche looked disgusted. "Please. The captain is right. You're a plant. That's the only thing that fits. You've been acting suspicious for ages. I just haven't been able to put my finger on why until now."  
Fall looked up. "I have a bad feeling about this job. I've been monitoring communications, looking for anomalies, strange transmissions, distress signals. There's something..." she appeared to be struggling to find the right word, "not right about all this."  
Keppler pointed a finger in Fall's face. "We are less a day away from our destination. I will not let you jeopardize this mission. I will not let you rob us blind for your corporate masters. I am entitled to whatever salvage is out there. Do you understand me?"  
"I have no interest in money!" Fall exploded. "I spent everything I had when I came to Aurora so that I wouldn't have a tracker installed in me! I am no spy!"  
Blanche looked like he wanted to punch the woman. "No tracker. How very convenient. Just like a Company spy."  
Keppler grabbed hold of the smaller woman. Fall yelped in pain as her captain roughly handled her upper arm. "I'm locking you in your quarters until further notice."  
She practically dragged Fall towards her quarters. Fall looked at Knight, pleading, but Knight didn't know what to think. She had been blindsided by all this. A spy? A Company spy? It was too easy to draw parallels to the Seegson Sister situation. Someone working inside against the greater good.  
"Knight," Fall said.  
Keppler had reached the woman's quarters now and punched a sequence into the lock. The door slid open and Keppler tossed the smaller woman inside then started to punch in another sequence. Just as the door began to close, Fall - who had not broken eye contact with Knight - spoke one last time, invoking Knight' first name. "Gwyn." Then she was sealed into her quarters.  
Keppler looked around at the rest of them. Knight thought that she had never looked angrier. "Okay, show's over! This spy will remain locked up until I decide what to do with her. Now you all have your assignments. Like I said, we're less than a day out. Do your jobs, people." She started to make her way to the cockpit, stopped to regard Knight. She didn't say anything, just shook her head and continued on her way.  
Blanche, looking self satisfied with himself, turned and headed towards his office. Everyone else followed suit, returning to their stations. All of them but Knight and Grimes.  
Grimes was also shaking his head, like Keppler, but he looked far more upset. His eyes were watery. He looked at Knight. "Oh, God, what did you do?"  
Knight was still utterly confused by everything that was going on. "Me?"  
Grimes spoke but this time to himself. He was no longer looking at Knight. "I guess I'm sleeping in the recreation area for the foreseeable future." A small, humorless laugh. "Knight/Fall. Great. Fucking great." He left, heading in that direction. The recreation room was near the cryosleep chamber.  
A moment later, Knight - now completely alone - returned to her quarters. She felt like she'd been struck upside the head, something inside becoming dislodged in the process.  
What had just happened?

"Don't make any sense," Gant - one of the miners - said.  
He was talking to himself, of course. Everyone else had gone home by now, their shifts long ended. Gant had chosen to remain behind. Something was bothering him.  
Of course, he had had to dodge the Company supervisor. No one was supposed to be in the mine by themselves, not after hours. Nonetheless, he had to figure out what was going on around here. Get to the bottom of things.  
He tracked his way deep into the mines, farther than he had ever traveled before. His breather was working overtime and his light - which had seemed powerful enough in shallower areas of the mine - barely seemed to pierce the darkness. He could hear his every footfall alongside his labored breathing, the air being forced into his lungs by the machine.  
His crew had barely mined anything today. Perhaps less than a few kilos of metal, not at all worth the manpower being poured into the effort. He shook his head. It didn't make any sense.  
And the way they had broken the men up into small groups. Why? To cover more ground? Gant supposed so. Nothing else would fit.  
His friend - Arnt - had been in one of those other crews. They had met up during their lunch hour and traded perplexing stories about the behavior of the Company supervisors. Some of them seemed skittish. Scared, even.  
Come to think of it, Gant hadn't seen Arnt at the end of shift. No matter. He must have just missed him, since he was laying low - if not actually hiding - so that he could stick around after hours and explore.  
Now it all seemed like a bad idea. As the darkness closed in around him, it was too easy to imagine things crawling in that black space. Things not human.  
Alien.  
The worst part was that, though the darkness was closing in - getting denser - the walls were gradually expanding, getting farther away from each other. At first, Gant thought that he was traversing natural caverns that the Company had broken into, but - with little exploration - he found that they were man-made. Carved out of the rock by big, industrial laser drilling machines.  
What the Hell was going on around here?  
The question compelled him forward, forcing him to push his fear deeper, burying it. But that feeling - that something was in here with him, watching, tracking - would not leave him.  
The man-made cavern was enormous now. Gant was picturing something the size of a grand ballroom in some old movie, but dark and carved out of rock. A ballroom filled with madmen who weren't human.  
Something moved in the dark.  
Gant sensed it more than he saw or heard it. A faint shuffling, of something big and strong shifting its weight, changing position. Gant froze in place.  
All of a sudden, his breather seemed too hot, too humid. It felt like his lungs were filling up with liquid; more and more with every breath.  
Another slight shift of movement nearby. Gant would have missed this one entirely if he hadn't been completely still and listening for it.  
Gant knew that if he just turned to his right, his light would reveal whatever it was that was in the chamber with him. A few inches would do it.  
But he didn't want that. Didn't want to see whatever it was. Perhaps if he acted like he hadn't noticed it, it would go away, leave him alone.  
Slowly, deliberately, he kept moving forward. Soon, his light revealed shapes on the ground. Some kind of organic growths, roughly cylindrical, less than a meter tall. All across the floor.  
Gant frowned. What the fuck were these?  
He walked among them for a moment before his light revealed the end of the man-made cavern. It was some ways ahead of him but he could see it.  
And what was planted in front of it.  
A massive shape, something alive. Something horrible.  
Gant opened his mouth to scream. He didn't get that far.  
The something that had been tracking him came rushing out of the darkness, all flesh and teeth. And it wasn't right. In the brief glimpse that he got of it before it grabbed hold of him, Gant knew that it wasn't right. Flesh but somehow metallic at the same time.  
It shrieked as it came for him.  
All thought left Gant's mind as the creature clutched him in its long, incredibly powerful arms. Gant's light broke in the brief struggle and the creature pulled him into the darkness.

Grimes broke open another pistachio shell, got what he needed from inside it - ate it - and tossed the now empty husk at the wall. The shell collided with the tiled wall of the kitchen with a satisfying smack. Grimes chuckled.  
There was a small, growing pile of the empty shells on the floor near the spot where he had planted himself. He sat cross-legged on the floor of the kitchen and dining area, having migrated here from the recreation area some time ago.  
It was late now, almost everyone else was asleep, only Valentine remained at her post in the cockpit. Grimes had visited her an hour earlier. She was listening to some band called No Doubt at the time.  
When he felt safe enough - and when the pile of shells was sufficiently large - Grimes stood up and pushed himself into one corner of the room, wedged in like a child hiding during some kind of game. He held up his wrist on which he wore a small communicator. He punched a sequence into the device and leaned his head back a little farther.  
Being close to the infrastructure of the ship amplified the signal. Somewhat, at least.  
He crossed his fingers with his free hand and made the call. There was a series of small clicks. After a few of those, he knew that he was connected. He made a triumphant fist with his free hand and spoke into the communicator.  
"Fall?" he said. "Fall, I know you can hear me in there. I've modulated my communicator to only transmit to our room. You can't respond but I know you can hear me." He sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration. "This is a hard one, girl. I feel like I've been stretched across about a kilometer of sharp rocks. Anyway..."  
He trailed off. Anyway, what? What did he want to say? What did he have to say? What else was there?  
"I'll try to keep your secret for as long as I can," he said.

Early afternoon of the next day, Keppler had taken one of the pilot seats, Valentine seated in the other. Rank was on communications. The rest of them - with the exception of Fall - were standing about the cabin. Through the window, a massive yellow gas giant was visible in the distance, sitting among the stars. They were close enough to just make out a small object slowly orbiting the planet. That was their destination.  
"Take us in, Valentine," Keppler ordered.  
"Aye, captain," Valentine said.  
The ship glided through the Void, making good sub-light speed. As the gas giant grew, blotting out the stars, the captain ordered a full stop.  
"Let's know what we're getting into first, shall we?" she said. "Magnifier on."  
For a moment, nothing happened. Keppler turned to Rank and looked at him, pointedly. Rank looked back at her, confused, for a moment.  
"Oh!" he said, realization dawning on his face. "That's me. Not used to being in this chair. I mean, it's usually Valentine or..." He trailed off but everyone knew who he was about to mention.  
He punched a sequence into his interface, paused, looked back at his captain. He smiled before speaking. "You wanna look at the ship, right?"  
Keppler nodded, not saying anything. Rank nodded back and got back to his job. A moment later, a screen appeared in the center of the windshield. For a moment, it was out of focus as Rank adjusted the setting, then it was sharp as the edge of a razor.  
The ship floating in a slowly decaying orbit around the gas giant was huge. A luxury liner, very old. It was probably the height of sophistication during its time but that time was at least two hundred years ago.  
Its majesty and elegance was still intact, however. The ravages of the Void had been kind in the case of this derelict.  
Blanche whistled appreciatively, then clapped once, hard. A small, short laugh followed. "One of the old floating palaces! Never thought I'd see one. Look at it. It's gorgeous."  
"What do you think it's worth?" Grimes asked. He was sitting on the ground at the back of the cockpit. Up to this point, he had seemed disinterested in the proceedings but had now perked up, it seemed.  
Keppler shook her head, as did Valentine. But Blanche smiled wide. He turned to the other man. "Billions. At least."  
"You're shitting me," Grimes said, standing up and approaching the windshield.  
"I am not shitting you," Blanche said. "Oh, the goddamn Company would love to get their hands on this one, the greedy bastards. But it's ours. Verve will pay top dollar, especially if she wants it for herself."  
Knight leaned against a wall near Rank, off to one side. "Why?"  
"What do you mean?" Blanche asked.  
"Why would she want this ship?" Knight asked. "Does she have a buyer lined up?"  
"I don't know," Keppler said, not looking at Knight, "and I don't care. All I care about is getting that thing ready to tow and getting the fuck on our way."  
"But we're going inside, aren't we?" Blanche said. "The treasures on board that beautiful beast are unimaginable."  
"Explain," Rank said.  
"These old boats," Blanche said, walking up to the screen, transfixed by the image of the ship, "they were exclusively for the rich. I'm talking uber rich. And you know how the economy is, no matter what planet you live on. It ebbs and flows. One day your stock is the talk of the town, the next it's in the dumps. Well, why not get away?"  
"Get away?" Knight asked.  
"Yes," Blanche said, turning towards the rest of them now. "Why not go to sleep for ten, twenty years? Meanwhile, your wealth increases and when you eventually get back, you start a new company or business."  
He turned back towards the screen and pointed. "These guys. These smart assholes, they go into cryo sleep, everyone on board does, and go far out into the Void. Usually the destination is some astrological event that looks pretty through a window. You understand. Everybody wakes up, is catered to in luxury for a month or two. It's like living in the most lavish hotel imaginable. Then, back into cryo sleep for the return trip home. And you've got a clean slate, plus your untold riches, which have only increased in value as you've been gone. It's marvelous."  
"So what happened?" Knight asked.  
"Hmm?" Blanche said.  
Knight smirked, shook her head. "Why is this one here? What happened to them?"  
Blanche didn't look interested in the question. "I've no idea. Maybe there was a malfunction and they never woke up. Just drifted through the frontier until they got pulled into the gravity well of this planet."  
"Rank," Keppler said, "get in closer, see if we can spot a name."  
"Aye," Rank said.  
A few beeps from his console as he fiddled with it. The screen zoomed in, catching the bow of the ship. For a moment, they couldn't see anything, then the name of the vessel drifted into view. All of them read it.  
Keppler drew in a sharp, surprised breath. "Jesus Christ, it's the Lorelei."  
"You know it?" Knight asked.  
Keppler nodded. Knight shot a glance at Blanche but the man was silent. He looked worried, though.  
"Captain?" Knight said.  
"It's a legend," Keppler said. "It... I didn't think it was real!"  
"It's not real," Blanche said. "Can't be."  
"We are literally looking at it," Knight said.  
"It's real," Rank said. "I've heard about it, too."  
"Somebody fill me in here," Grimes said.  
"The Lorelei is a ghost story," Keppler said. "Something that the old space-farers would talk about when they were in their cups and the Void was getting to them. They say..." She trailed off.  
"What?" Knight demanded. "What do they say?"  
"They say that she brings bad luck," Keppler said. "They say that when you see the Lorelei, it means death. Ships steer clear of it, as a rule."  
"There hasn't been a reported, substantiated sighting of the Lorelei in nearly a hundred years!" Blanche said. He stormed towards the back of the cockpit and leaned against a wall, arms folded across his chest.  
"Well, I'd say that this counts as a sighting," Rank said. "I've heard that ships have docked with it. Or tried to. None of them were ever heard from again. There's always some kind of malfunction or crisis."  
"They are just stories," Blanche said.  
"Then what's the reality, doc?" Grimes asked.  
Blanche raised an arm towards the screen. "The reality is that the Lorelei is, in actuality, an example of the ships I was telling you about. It got lost, was spotted a few times, superstitious ship captains got scared and told a few stories about it. Like children."  
"And now?" Grimes said.  
"That was a long time ago," Blanche explained. "We're a damn sight more sophisticated now, I would say. We're grown-ups. If those old space captains were too afraid to take this old gold mine for what it is clearly worth, then so be it! I don't think we should make the same mistake as them. This is our ticket."  
"Ticket where?" Knight said.  
"Anywhere!" Blanche held out two clenched fists in front of his chest and took a few steps towards her. "With the kind of money that this ship is worth, we could go anywhere! Do anything! We would be the masters of our own destiny!"  
Knight looked at him for a moment. Everyone was silent. Then Knight looked at Keppler. "Captain? What say you?"  
Keppler turned and looked at her, then at the others. Then she looked back at the screen. She was silent for a moment longer. "I say we go in. We dock with the Lorelei, strip it for whatever it's worth, get it ready for towing. Then we haul it to Tosh, make a shitload of money."  
Grimes nodded and Blanche looked practically in ecstasy. Rank turned to his station, pointedly not looking at the others. Valentine was hard to read.  
And Knight?  
Knight was scared. She wouldn't have admitted it to the others, but she was scared. Something about that ship, even though she had never heard of it before now. Something about the way things had ended the previous night with Fall. It was all wrong.  
But when the captain ordered everyone to get ready and suit up, she did what she was told. It wasn't her ship. She wasn't in charge.  
She just hoped that things weren't about to go sideways in the worst possible way.


	6. Chapter 6

Director Verve retrieved her coffee from the dispenser and headed for her office. One of the aides watched her stride by. Verve knew that the man was looking, knew - roughly, at least - what he was thinking: that he could melt this ice queen if he just had the chance. Many men - and several women - had thought the same thing. But none had cracked the ice.  
Verve reached her office, her computer immediately turning on when sensing her presence. She sat down at her desk, took a sip of the still-too-hot beverage and set it aside. She spotted an apple sitting at the edge of her desk and frowned. Probably from that same aide, trying to get on her good side. She shook her head. Didn't he know that she didn't have a good side?  
An interactive display activated just above her knees and she interfaced with it, bringing up the information that she required. If her calculations were correct, Argo was just arriving at their destination. She had an idea of what they would find but wasn't entirely sure. The information that she had paid - quite handsomely - for was spotty, at best. Hard data mixed with old legends.  
But that wasn't what concerned her at the moment. No, it was the Company that she was worried about. Weyland Yutani. How much did they know?  
And those damn plans on the surface of the spacial object that this station orbited. Insane.  
It was cause for some alarm and it all came down to one man: P.T. Weyland. A clone of an old tech tycoon. Verve knew of him well. What would he do if he knew what she was about to acquire? How jealous would he be?  
Verve leaned back, took another sip of her coffee and kept reading about the man. Both his official file and what she could find on the subspace net.  
"You're not going to get it before me," she said to no one. "I'm going to win this one."

Coordinator Hastler puffed on his cigar and surveyed the work that the construction team had recently finished. He nodded. "Good, wouldn't you say, Governor?"  
Governor Laeni said that it was, indeed, good work. The building was on Hastler's estate, near the main house. It had just been finalized and sealed up so that Hastler and his people could now enter and take off their breathers to walk around freely. Hastler had initially wanted it as an extension of his home, so that he wouldn't have to travel at all but the architect - and the scientists, of course - had persuaded him that it was too dangerous to keep in the same building.  
Now, Hastler and Laeni marveled upon their efforts: a transmat, the first one this far out beyond the Rim. It was a silver chamber, over three meters high and six meters wide, with three circles on the ground to indicate the actual arrival points of transporting matter. The whole affair took up a quarter of the modest building. The rest consisted of a control area - which is where they were - a waiting area and, of course, an airlock. Currently, the transmat was only connected to a similar installation on Tosh, but it could soon be hooked up to any ship that happened to pass by, assuming they had the clearance.  
Umbray, Hastler's assistant, approached the machine and keyed a sequence into the interface. She then looked at her boss. "We're ready for the test, Coordinator."  
"Excellent," Hastler said. "Proceed, if you please."  
Umbray nodded and got to work. In the corner of the room, Rope watched over them all with a keen eye. He really was the best security that money could buy, Hastler reflected.  
The transmat started to make noise - a loud, unpleasant hum - and green light filled the chamber. Umbray and Laeni instinctively took a step back but Hastler stood where he was, puffing away at his cigar. The green light illuminated his face as he smiled.  
Green dots began to form in the chamber, on the center circle. Soon the dots solidified and became an object. The noise was gone.  
Hastler stepped forward and picked up the object: an orange. He sniffed it, threw it into the air and caught it. Seemed to weigh it in his hand. Umbray and Laeni cautiously approached him. Hastler offered it to either of them but Laeni shook his head furiously and Umbray just backed away.  
Hastler laughed. The sound was loud and deep. In the corner, Rope responded to a call on his wrist communicator as Hastler started to peel the orange. He sniffed it once again, smiled and pulled a wedge of it away from the bulk. He ate it, getting a bit of pulp and liquid on his chin.  
"How is it?" Laeni asked.  
The coordinator chewed for a moment before turning to the governor. He smiled. "It's wonderful. Cool and refreshing, just like it's supposed to be. My good man, we've done it!"  
He clapped the governor on the shoulder so hard that he actually hurt Laeni a little. The governor tried to hide it but it was written all over his face.  
Rope finished his call and approached Hastler. "Sir, Robert Watts is here to speak to the governor."  
"Who?" Hastler asked.  
"The preacher, sir," Rope answered.  
Hastler brightened. "Oh, yes! No, no. Show him in. I'm sure he'd be interested to see this, in any case."  
As they waited for Watts to be led to the transmat station and go through the airlock, Hastler continued eating the orange. Umbray looked at a personal screen.  
"There are a few things to note," she said.  
"Yes, yes," Hastler said.  
Umbray started down the list. "The device is not yet rated for living matter."  
Hastler nodded but twirled the orange in his palm. "But it can, in theory, transport people."  
Umbray looked wary. "True, it can. In theory."  
Hastler approached the interface, ran his hand along it. "We'll have to test that soon enough, as well."  
"When time permits," Umbray said.  
"Before the end of the day, if you please," Hastler said.  
"I'm not..." Umbray trailed off. "I don't know if I can arrange a test that quickly, coordinator."  
Hastler looked pointedly at her. "Make it a priority, Umbray. If we need to leave this planet in a hurry and we just might, then we'll need this to work. Properly."  
"I understand, sir," Umbray said. "I'm told that, though the machine has a 99% rating on recognizing and... separating living objects, if damaged, it cannot be guaranteed to do any such thing."  
"Meaning?" Hastler said, taking his cigar out of his mouth and looking at her.  
Umbray couldn't look at him. "Meaning try to keep each person separate and on their own circle. Just in case."  
Hastler raised his eyebrows. He nodded. "Understood."  
The airlock hissed open and all of them turned to see Watts enter the station. He looked around, obviously impressed at the new technology. Rope approached him and ran a small handheld device over him quickly, checking for weapons. Watts absent-mindedly held up his hands for the check.  
"Reverand Watts," Hastler said warmly.  
Watts approached him, smiling. "Just Watts is fine."  
"Watts, then!" Hastler said. "How are you, my good man? Cigar?"  
Watts demurred with one hand. "No, thank you."  
Hastler finished the cigar he was smoking and replaced it with a new one. He smiled. "Of course. You like what we've done here?"  
Watts took a small stroll around the modest building. He stopped at the transmat chamber itself. He turned to the others, smiled. "Quite impressive. I must say. I admit, I don't know a whole lot about technology, but this is truly a marvel. God's work in action."  
Hastler laughed. "It is, isn't it? God's very work!" He approached the other man and put a hand on his shoulder. "Now, what can we do for you?"  
Watts sighed. "Well, I was going to bring it to Governor Laeni here, but I was told that he was with you. I hope you don't mind that I came here."  
"Not at all, my good sir!" Hastler said. "Not at all. Your problems, whatever they may be, are our problems. I hope you see that."  
Watts nodded. "I do. Which is why I came."  
"And," Laeni said, taking a step towards Watts, "what is so important that you couldn't wait and see me in my office?"  
"Governor," Hastler chided, "no need for that sort of behavior. Watts here is merely a concerned citizen. Isn't that right, Mr. Watts?"  
"It is," Watts said, more than a little hesitantly.  
"Do go on, then," Hastler encouraged him.  
Watts explained. "It's about the miners. Several of them have approached me - independently, you understand. They voiced their concerns to me. They want me to act as a... sort of advocate on their behalf."  
Hastler dramatically removed the cigar from his mouth. He turned his head, cocked an eyebrow. "An advocate for what, exactly?"  
"That's just it," Watts said. "They're not sure."  
"None of this is making any sense to me," Laeni said.  
"He has a point, Watts," Haslter said. "Spit it out, man."  
"You see," Watts began, "some of the miners are missing."  
"Missing, you say?" Hastler said.  
Watts nodded. "Yes. Five men, to be precise. Their families and partners haven't seen them in more than a day."  
"A whole day!" Hastler said, smiling. He looked at the others. "Did you hear that, gentlemen - and lady, of course? A day! Surely, these men are, shall we say, tying it off somewhere. Celebrating the fact that they're getting paid some real cash again. Perhaps a little too much?"  
"It's possible, I guess," Watts said.  
"Or perhaps they're just fornicating with a neighbor," Hastler said. "Something of the sort."  
Watts shrugged. "Once again, it's possible. But still, they're worried."  
"What in the devil for?" Hastler asked. "There's something you're not saying."  
Watts paused. He looked at the others. "There are stories, coordinator."  
Suddenly, the hand on Watts' shoulder tightened. Just a little. "Stories."  
"Stories, yes," Watts continued. "Noises. Shapes in the dark. Something... not human wandering the mine."  
Hastler took out his cigar once again and frowned. Then a smile gradually broke across his face. He laughed. Soon, Laeni had joined in. Umbray a moment later. Rope remained blank-faced, watching them like a hawk.  
Watts smiled nervously. He suddenly looked interested in his hands, which were folded in front of him.  
"Monsters!" Hastler said between laughs. "That's a new one. Oh, I haven't had that good a laugh in ages. Thank you, Mr. Watts."  
"Well, it wasn't my intention to--" Watts began.  
Hastler slapped him on the shoulder, just as hard as he had with Laeni - harder. Watts looked like the breath had been knocked out of him. "It's just superstition, Watts! Nothing more. These missing miners will turn up within a day, I'm telling you! Now, as you can see, we've much work to do here, so if you'll excuse us."  
Watts, no longer smiling, looked at Hastler. There was judgment in his gaze and Hastler felt it just as if he'd been slapped. He let the cigar in his mouth drop. Just slightly.  
"Of course," Watts said, deadpan. No emotion at all.  
He let Rope escort him from the building. Hastler and the others could hear the airlock sealing once again. The coordinator was no longer smiling, either. He looked at the others.  
Laeni looked like he was on the verge of panicking. He took a few steps towards Hastler but the Company man stopped him with one outstretched hand. He shook his head.  
"It was bound to happen," Hastler said. "Only a matter of time." He started to leave the building, stopped and looked at Umbray. "That test, Umbray. Before the end of the day. Understand?"  
"Yes, sir," Umbray said with a small intake of breath.  
Hastler nodded. After that, he continued on his way.

Keppler, Knight, Rank, Grimes and Valentine were in the process of suiting up for their job. Blanche had been told to remain behind on the Argo to watch over things, not least of which was their imprisoned crew-mate. He hadn't liked it one bit, his eagerness to explore the Lorelei readily apparent. But Keppler had argued that he had never been on an away mission before, nor did he have any experience, so he was the best candidate for staying behind.  
Everyone else also wanted to explore the vessel, even if they were also afraid, and so they were all going. Valentine's music filled the small space as they shrugged into their slim, form-fitting environmental suits.  
Rank looked up at Valentine, smiling. "I know this. Space Girls, right?"  
Valentine smiled, chuckled. "That's Spice Girls, Rank. Spice, not space."  
Rank slowly nodded, a frown on his face. "Oh, right."  
Keppler was the first of them to finish suiting up. She stood up and lifted one leg, setting a boot down on a bench. "There won't be any gravity in there, so don't forget to check your boots. Make sure that the magnets work. Knight, you've got enough wire to rig us up a few lines, just in case we can't get the power back on?"  
Knight zipped up one side of her suit. It was more tender than it should have been. She winced as she reached the zipper's zenith. What had Fall done to her last night? "I'm on it."  
"Good." Keppler checked the seals of her helmet, then punched something into her wrist interface. Her heads-up display was visible to the rest of them for a moment. She shut it down, nodded. "Okay, people. Let's go explore this old lady."

A moment later, Grimes found time to signal Fall once more. He stood in another corner of the ship and turned on his communicator, at the same time making sure that his helmet mic was turned off, at least momentarily. He informed Fall of the identity of the ship, what they knew about it, and the fact that Blanche was staying behind on Argo.  
He sighed. Honestly, he didn't know why he was keeping Fall informed. There was no way that her secret was going to remain so for long. Still, it felt like the right thing to do. He rejoined his crew mates a moment later.

They had docked the Argo with the Lorelei at a port near the stern. The docking umbilicus of the Argo was intentionally wider than normal, so that it could dock with ships of many different designs, the seal around it being large enough to accommodate small vessels and gigantic space liners alike.  
Now they crowded into the umbilicus, Keppler in the lead. It took their captain a moment to find the old ship's interface but, when she did, she produced a small, handheld device and set it on the interface. She activated it and, with a series of clicks and beeps, the device unlocked the old docking port.  
All of them could hear the sudden inrush of air when the seal was broken. It reminded Knight of an old tomb being opened, like something out of the movies.  
The door slid open, disappearing up into the infrastructure. Inside was total darkness. All of them had expected this. Knight flicked her head in a certain direction and her heads-up display activated a shoulder lamp. The rest followed suit. They proceeded inside.  
Five lights penetrated the darkness. Five small lights illuminated sights unseen by human eyes for more than two hundred years.  
Knight adjusted to the absence of gravity on board the Lorelei fairly quickly; this was her job and the magnetic boots were working just fine. She made sure to immediately shine her light on the wall directly to her right when they entered. The lettering on the wall confirmed what she suspected. They had entered on G deck, which would contain crew quarters and cyro tubes, along with galley, baggage. Below them, there would only be the engine room and related systems. The warp engines on these old ships required lots of room, if she knew her history right, and she was fairly certain that she did.  
They made their way through the airlock and, after that, headed into a main corridor. Behind them was a large hold ahead of an even larger luggage room. Ahead of them were crew quarters. Knight could see that many of the doors were hanging open. There would be a stairwell and at least one elevator nearby, though Knight couldn't see them yet.  
Keppler made eye contact with Knight and the younger woman nodded. They had worked together for some time now and didn't need to speak to understand each other.  
Knight grabbed what she wanted from her belt, a spherical object no larger than a tennis ball. It was black with ridges running along it. Knight pressed a hidden button on the device. Immediately, the ridges lit up a sickly green. Knight tossed the ball into the air and it started to move through the air by itself. First, the probe - for that was what it was - traveled behind them, making its way swiftly through the hold and luggage room, then it traveled past them, down the main corridor of crew cabins.  
Knight flicked her wrist in a particular way and an unfolding map - outlined in green - appeared on her heads-up display on her helmet. The probe was feeding its data directly to their suits. Knight nodded to Keppler, indicating that the probe seemed to be working correctly. Everyone made sure that they were receiving its signal, as well.  
The probe had rudimentary electronic lock-picks but was only programmed to use them on things like stairwells and main doors. For crew and passenger cabins and the like it would be able to make basic scans of what was behind those doors. This would provide them with at least a simple map of the ship. Something to rely on.  
They moved forward, Keppler in the lead, Knight at the rear. Keppler shined her light up at the ceiling and stopped. The rest did the same. Keppler pointed. "Looks like a fire of some kind."  
Knight nodded. They did look like burn marks. Running along the ceiling like veins.  
They started checking crew cabins, not expecting much. If there were valuables to be found, they would be with the rich passengers, not the crew. But they wanted to be thorough.  
They spread out to check all the rooms in a timely manner. Knight approached her own, chosen cabin, which was hanging open. From her communicator, she heard Grimes. "Anyone else finding burned cabins? Like, burnt to a crisp?"  
"Affirmative," Valentine said.  
Knight pushed aside the door to her cabin and found that, indeed, this room was burned as well. The cabin was tiny, little more than a narrow bed, a wash station and a chair. She supposed that the rest were the same. But hers contained an extra bonus: a corpse, little more than a mummy by this point, but clearly it had also been burned, along with the cabin.  
"I've got a body in mine," she said. "Burned, as well."  
"Same here," Keppler said.  
Knight approached the body, which was laid out on its back on the floor, hands grotesquely curled, its mouth open wide in terror and pain, eye sockets empty but somehow still staring up at her. There was something else, too.  
Knight frowned. She moved closer, shining her light down on the corpse's chest. There was a large hole there. It didn't look like a burn would do that. It was as if the corpse had exploded from the inside; albeit a small, localized explosion.  
"Body in here is weird," she reported over comms.  
"Weird how?" Keppler asked. "Explain."  
Knight shook her head, confused. "Big hole in its chest. Unrelated to the burn, I think."  
"Maybe somebody shot him before he was burned?" Grimes weighed in.  
Knight frowned. "Not unless he was shot from the inside. Some kind of... explosion, I think?"  
"I'll be right there," Keppler said.  
She was standing beside Knight a moment later. They both knelt down to examine the body further.  
"The body I found wasn't like this," Keppler said. "Appeared to have been in bed when the fire burned through this deck."  
They moved on, not having the proper equipment to examine the body any further. After spending some time exploring the deck - and finding seven more bodies, two of which also had their chests ripped open - they regrouped in the central corridor.  
"Alright," Keppler ordered, "I want two groups. Knight and Grimes, see if you can get main power restored. I don't know if that's possible but give it a shot. Valentine, Rank, you're with me. We're going to head up, see if we can reach the wheel house or at least the control deck. We'll stop to check cabins along the way."  
"Right," Rank said.  
The rest of them agreed silently. Knight and Grimes got moving, heading for the stairwell. They should be able to access the ship's systems in the engine room, if it was still intact.

The Lycia docked with the Lorelei on the opposite end of the ship, near the bow, keeping their small pirate vessel on stealth run the entire time. They wore environmental suits that were similar to the models that the crew of the Argo wore, but patched together using the best parts of several suits to make one, efficient package.  
They were also armed. Each of them carried rifles - also of patchwork, handmade design - and wore a sidearm on their belt.  
Their entrance was a contrast to the Argo's entrance. Whereas the Argo crew entered in complete darkness, the crew of the Lycia stepped onto an expansive deck atop the ship, its entire ceiling made of strong glass, offering a dazzling view of the gas giant that the ship was orbiting as well as the field of stars beyond.  
This was the Star Deck, which was open save for the control deck portion near the stern of the ship. Zorn approached a massive swimming pool that had long ago dried up and smiled. He turned and looked across the deck. Lounge chairs - designed for sun-bathing when the ship passed near a star - were arranged all about. Stations for attendants dotted the landscape. Zorn shook his head in marvel.  
Marlowe and Io joined him, also taking in the sight. Marlowe nodded.  
"Right," he said. "It's a wonder, I'll give it that. But this isn't why we're here. Stay sharp, be watchful. Don't be afraid to shoot anything that moves."  
"Is that really necessary?" Zorn asked.  
"Yes," Marlowe said simply.  
Zorn frowned. "It's just a salvage team. Surely, they won't be much of a problem. They aren't packing, as far as intel suggests."  
"Nevertheless," Marlowe said, "keep your eyes peeled. There may be something else here with us."  
"There something you're not telling us, captain?" Zorn asked.  
Marlowe looked at him. "My business is my own. Your business is to follow my orders. Understand?"  
Zorn studied the man for a moment before responding. "Aye, captain."  
"Just a moment," Marlowe said suddenly.  
He was receiving more intel from their spy, Zorn guessed. After a moment, this was confirmed and Zorn could see an unfolding map of the Lorelei appear on Marlowe's heads-up display. Marlowe punched a sequence into his wrist control and the map appeared on the other two men's heads-up display.  
Their captain then directed his attention back towards them. "The minute the object we're looking for appears on our screen, I want it. No matter where we are on this ship, I want us to get to that object before they do. Understood?"  
It was "ayes" from both Zorn and Io as they pushed forward. Zorn was starting to really dislike this mission. He didn't like being kept in the dark.

Knight and Grimes stood outside a room near the engines. There was a long window set into the floor that offered a view of the massive faster-than-light engines that powered the ship. Grimes looked down at them while Knight rewired the control panel outside the small room, which they believed was the ship's main computer.  
"You know," Grimes said as Knight worked, "I've been doing the math."  
Knight was listening but she didn't look at him when she answered. She had too much work to do here to get truly distracted. "Oh yeah? That hurt?"  
"Very funny," Grimes said. "But, seriously, it doesn't add up."  
"What doesn't add up?" Knight asked.  
Grimes knelt down to her level. "The math. Look, those engines would be rated... what... 2.6, 2.7?"  
Knight nodded, still not looking at him. "Probably, given their age."  
Grimes also nodded. "Right. State of the art for the time but primitive compared to what we have now."  
"What's your point?" Knight asked.  
"My point is how did they get this far out?" Grimes said. "So, they died. All of them, by the looks of it, two hundred years ago. Maybe longer. Even assuming that their engines were still running long after they were all dead, and that doesn't look likely, they still shouldn't have gotten this far. There's no way."  
Knight stopped working for a moment and looked at him. "So, you think something happened out there? Something that we don't know about? Get in the queue. There's nothing about what we've found so far that makes any sense. All I know is that we should be careful. God, I wish we had some weapons. I know that the Company doesn't allow it but couldn't Keppler have gotten some through the black market? Don't you know people?"  
Grimes shrugged. "Guns? Sure, probably. I mean, maybe. Most of those guys hate my guts."  
Knight sighed and turned her attention back to her work. "Figures."  
They lapsed into silence for a moment. Knight could feel the man's eyes on her as she worked, though, and knew that he was about to bring up something that she didn't want to discuss. Something unpleasant.  
A moment later, as if on cue: "She's my girlfriend, you know."  
Knight clenched her teeth. So, they were doing this, then? Okay. So be it.  
"Clearly, she's not," Knight said.  
Grimes stood up, leaned against the doorway of the room they were trying to access, less than a meter away from Knight. He folded his arms across his chest. "Okay, so she likes you, too. Fine. But she's... mine. We've been together for ages."  
"Oh, God, quit lying!" Knight said. "You two are no more a couple than you and I are a couple."  
"I... That's not true."  
Knight stood up to meet him. He was taller than her but she lead with her mouth. "Of course it's true. You're a fake couple. Fall all but told me herself. I don't know if you were covering for her because she's a spy or whether it was something else entirely, but the two of you aren't together. It's pretty clear that Fall isn't particularly into men. Same as me."  
Grimes shook his head. "She's no spy."  
Knight rounded back towards the control panel, stopped, then turned back round to face Grimes. She looked deep into his eyes. "Then what is she?"  
Grimes held her gaze for as long as he could. Then he looked down, unable to maintain it. Knight shook her head. "Yeah, that's what I thought. When you want be honest with me, we'll talk. Until then, shut up and let me do my job."  
Knight grabbed hold of what she needed from the small pack she had brought along with her: a portable power supply. Another few minutes and she had power in the control panel. "All right!" After that, it was a cinch bypassing the outdated security protocols and opening the doors to the computer room.  
Grimes moved aside as the doors opened, revealing a beige room, domed and covered in blinking lights. At the back was a chair and a computer terminal. Above the computer monitor, a plaque read:  
MU/TH/UR 9000  
"M.U..." Grimes began, trailed off.  
"Old tech," Knight explained as she moved into the room, closely followed by Grimes. "Crews would refer to them as 'Mother'."  
"Quaint."  
Knight nodded and sat down in the chair. The interface was as a simple keyboard. Knight started typing.  
STATUS REPORT  
There was a series of clicks and beeps, as if the computer was thinking. Then:  
SHIP SERIOUSLY DAMAGED. ALL SYSTEMS CURRENTLY SHUT DOWN.  
Knight looked at Grimes with raised eyebrows. "Yeah, no shit. Still, she works. That's something." She returned to typing.  
RESTORE MAIN POWER?  
Another series of clicks and beeps, longer this time. Then:  
LIFE SUPPORT AND GRAVITY AVAILABLE. ENGINES AND SUPPLEMENTARY SYSTEMS NEED REPAIR.  
Knight nodded and ordered Mother to restore life support and gravity. It took a moment, but lights began to come on, first in the engine room, then the stairwell they had descended. Presumably, this continued throughout the ship. Knight could feel her stomach drop and her brain readjust as the gravity was reinstated. She smiled. She turned to Grimes once again. "Air should be breathable in a few minutes."  
Grimes nodded. "I'll report it to the captain."  
"Right," Knight said.  
Grimes walked out of the computer room as Knight accessed the ship's registry through the interface. The date that Lorelei launched from Titan's orbital space station was the third of June, 2172, more than two hundred years ago. "Jesus."

High up, among the rafters and support beams of what was once a grand ballroom, encased in its cocoon, the Beast awoke. Once the gravity was restored and warmth began to return to the ship, the Beast realized that its long wait was over.  
To say that it opened its eyes upon waking would be inaccurate. It didn't have eyes to open, at least not any kind of eyes that humans would recognize. But its senses awakened, sent out its feelers, its own, alien probes. Something was here, on the ship with it.  
Prey.  
It would take some time to dislodge itself from its cocoon but, soon enough, it would be free. Free to roam the halls of the ship. To collect.  
To hunt.


	7. Chapter 7

Not long after the others had entered the Lorelei, Fall had managed to pry off the interface of her door. It had taken some time but she had finally managed it.  
Now, she stood in her small quarters, staring at the exposed wiring of the door lock. It would be easy to proceed, considering who she was, but the question was whether it was worth it. Was it worth it to possibly expose her real identity to intervene now?  
In truth, she had already come to a decision. She was just hesitating. What lay ahead was going to be difficult, perhaps fatally so.  
But she had to get out of this room and onto the Lorelei.  
It was when Grimes told her the name of the ship and a brief description of its history that Fall had come to her decision. Too many alarm bells had gone off in her brilliant brain.  
She had to act.  
She sighed, approached the lock, and held up one arm - the left - wrist up. She grabbed hold of a small mole on the arm and pulled. The mole came out easily and Fall pulled the appropriate wires from her arm. She connected them to the exposed wiring of the door lock and waited, her computer brain moving the electronic tumblers one by one.  
She had to do something. Had to act.  
The door opened and Fall slid out into the main corridor as quietly as she could. She looked about and froze as Blanche exited a room ahead of her and walked towards the bridge. Fall followed him silently and, just as he was about to turn - perhaps alerted to her presence - she jumped on his back.  
She was much smaller than the man but he barely had time to react. Fall wrapped an arm around Blanche's neck and the other behind his head.  
Blanche struggled but Fall was stronger than she looked. Blanche was out like a light after only a minute or two, Fall having cut off the air supply to his brain.  
She let him fall to the ground gently and left him there. He was going to be all right. He'd just wake up with a headache.  
Fall headed towards the airlock. She ran.  
Towards the Lorelei.

Verve passed through the door adjacent to her office into the newly-constructed transmat room. Like her office, it was flat and white with no embellishments or anything else to distract one's attention. It consisted of the transporter platform and a nearby control panel. One of the perks of being the boss of the station was that when the order came down the pipeline to build one of these, one could build it just beside one's office. In fact, this whole series of rooms - Verve's office and quarters, the transmat room, the outer offices - were entirely separate from the station and could be detached and fly on its own, and was able to sustain itself for months, if necessary.  
But now was the time for the test that Hastler had arranged on the planet below. Verve's aides had strongly suggested to her that someone else conduct the test but she had insisted that she be the one to beam the test subject onboard the station. She was smart and knew how to work the controls; had been taught on the machine when it was installed some weeks ago. Planetside construction had taken longer, due to the harsh conditions on Aurora.  
Verve crossed the small room to the control panel and waited for the signal from Aurora. She took a sip of her coffee then set the mug on the panel: it had a nice, flat edge above the controls that looked perfect for keeping her drink.  
Soon enough, indicators on the panel began to blink green. She punched in a few numbers, moved a bar up to boost the signal and, in the transporter booth, someone started to take shape. Verve had to admit, this was more exciting than transporting oranges.  
The man on the platform solidified and, when Verve was sure that the sequence was complete, she switched off the transporter. She managed a small smile as she approached the man on the platform.  
He was tall, middle-aged, rough around the edges. Verve was fairly certain he was a miner. She nodded to him. For a moment, he did nothing. He just looked around, unsure of where he was or what had just happened. Finally, he seemed to notice her and nodded back.  
"Clark, isn't it?" she said and motioned for him to step off the platform.  
Clark - presumably - took a step down from the platform, hesitated, then took another step. He seemed satisfied with his progress. "Yes, that's my name, ma'am."  
"I am Verve," introduced herself. "Pleased to meet you. Coffee?"  
"Oh!" Clark said. He followed her into her office. "Please. That would be great."  
Verve made the man coffee as they spoke. He didn't have a whole to say. Life planetside was rough but boring. She had heard his story dozens of times before. Finally, as they were both sitting in her office - and the computer was stealthily running medical scans on the miner - Verve steered the conversation in a direction more to her liking. "So, have you ever been here to the station before?"  
Clark put down his coffee. "No, ma'am. Not been most places, honestly."  
Verve was cradling her own coffee mug, not wanting to let it go. "How long have you lived on Aurora?"  
Clark looked down, seemingly interested in his shoes all of a sudden. "Seventeen years."  
Verve raised her eyebrows. "That long?"  
Clark nodded. "Yes, ma'am."  
"I won't ask about your life before that," Verve said, standing up. "I wouldn't want to embarrass either of us. Your past is your own." She leaned over her computer - which had just informed her that the man's scans were complete and that he was fine, save for a strange reading of his DNA - and punched in a few numbers. "I'm attaching a note to your file here authorizing you to come visit anytime. You have my clearance."  
Clark smiled wide. He stood up, as well, sensing that their little conversation was over.  
Verve smiled as she led him back to the transmat room. "This has been lovely. I really enjoyed our chat. You'll be happy to know that the test went well. No problems at all."  
Clark visibly relaxed. "Shoot, that's great. I admit that I was a little worried but I couldn't turn down the bonus that that company lady offered me."  
Verve led him to the transporter platform. He stepped onto it with a lighter step. She returned to the control panel. "I hope you buy something nice for yourself for Christmas. Perhaps here on the station!"  
Clark pointed to her as if in revelation. "Maybe I'll do that! Wow, you are a super lady. I sure enjoyed talking to you."  
Verve nodded, smiling - knowing that there was zero chance that he would be buying Christmas presents for himself or anyone else, either here or planetside; that he probably would be dead within a few days, at most - and waved to him. "Bye, now." She executed the return sequence into the control panel and the man was beamed back to Aurora.  
The smile disappeared from her face. That mark on the man's DNA. That small factor which set all Aurora residents apart from everyone else. Weyland Yutani's little experiment planetside. She shook her head.  
It was all coming to a head. It would all be over in a matter of days, whether they received the outcome they wanted or not.  
Verve finished her coffee just as she received confirmation that the miner - Clark - had been returned safely to Aurora. She sighed. He seemed like a nice man. Boring but pleasant. She didn't like thinking that he wouldn't be around for much longer but such was life.  
She returned to her office to get to work on the endless paperwork that came with her job. Perhaps things would change soon, once the Argo reported on their findings. Perhaps. One could never be sure.

Keppler, Valentine and Grimes proceeded up, onto F Deck. The stern section was devoted to the security center of the ship, while the bow was devoted to passenger cabins, which the next few decks above them would also mainly consist of.  
The air finally breathable, the three of them had taken their helmets off. The helmets deflated and collapsed into smaller, portable affairs attached to their backs just below the neck.  
It wasn't difficult accessing security. Keppler used her handheld, electronic lock-pick to disable the main door. The room was large and dead white. A bank of monitors dominated one wall. Another was lined with food dispensers and a small table and chairs. There was a modest, see-through weapons locker adjoining this. The final wall had a big window looking out into the main corridor leading to passenger cabins.  
Valentine was instantly drawn to the weapons locker, a look of euphoria on her face. Rank politely looked about, not too interested in guns or the bank of security monitors that Keppler was headed towards.  
Valentine used her own lock-pick to open the weapons locker. She whistled with appreciation and sensuously ran a hand along the butt of one of the rifles mounted inside. "M41A Pulse Rifle. Old-school. I want."  
Rank turned to her, eyes narrowed. "You think we'll need weapons?"  
Valentine shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt, would it?"  
Rank frowned. "I suppose. Captain?"  
But Keppler wasn't listening. Gravity and life support had been restored but most of the power to the ship was still down. She couldn't access the security logs. Distracted, she turned to Rank. "What's that?"  
Rank walked towards Valentine as he spoke. "Valentine thinks we need weapons. What do you think?"  
Keppler thought for a moment. Nodded. "Best be safe. We don't know what's out there."  
Valentine punched the air, excitedly. "Fuck yeah!"  
"Fair enough," Rank said. "I don't really know how to use many guns." He pointed at the pulse rifle that Valentine was grabbing from the locker. "And certainly not one of those. Anything more manageable for me, you think?"  
Valentine was busy checking the rifle, making sure it worked. It had been trapped in its locker for more than two hundred years. But the weapon was top notch, designed to withstand both heavy use and the ravages of time, and seemed in good working order. Finally, she looked up at Rank. "Um... There's a shotgun here. Lotta kick but basic enough. Think you could handle that?"  
Slowly, Rank nodded. "I've used one of those before. My dad had one. I guess that'll work."  
He retrieved the weapon, checked for ammo in the locker's many drawers. Keppler settled on two simple pistols.  
Rank, satisfied with his firearm, turned to Keppler. "Question. Won't these things pierce the hull and, you know... kill us all?"  
Keppler slapped a magazine into one of her pistols and shook her head. "These old space liners were basically tanks. These hulls are meters thick. I mean, I wouldn't shoot one of these things on the Star Deck or anywhere there's glass, but you'll be fine most places. Just be aware of your surroundings."  
Rank nodded and slung the shotgun over a shoulder. "Always am."  
Valentine gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "You're so cute."  
Keppler was taken aback for a moment. She frowned, was about to say something, then didn't. What her crew did amongst themselves was none of her business. As long as one of them wasn't a spy, she reflected.

When Knight was finished with Mother, she walked out of the computer room and found Grimes on his knees near an access panel overlooking the engines. He had connected his portable power supply to the panel and was currently looking at the interface, scrolling through systems. He shook his head.  
Knight joined him, knelt down. "What is it?"  
Grimes continued shaking his head. "Doesn't make any sense."  
Knight looked at the screen he had brought up and frowned. Grimes was right. It didn't make any sense. "What the fuck? How did they do that?"  
"I have no fucking clue. Look, right here." He pointed to the screen. "They've modified the engines somehow. This was after takeoff." He seemed manic, elated. "Something they did out in space! Doesn't even look like they were in dry dock! Who does that?! Especially back then."  
Knight stood up and walked towards the engines. Heavy glass replaced the metal floor here, allowing a glimpse of the engines. Knight stepped across the glass, looking down. They were both silent for a moment, Grimes going back to the engine logs, Knight simply contemplating the problem in her head while looking at the engines. Finally, she spoke. "They found something."  
Grimes looked up at her. She could see the wheels turning in his head. "Yeah. Something they ran into out here in the dark."  
Knight nodded. "Something that changed everything. What was it, do you think?"  
Grimes shrugged. "A ship. Had to be. Something so advanced that it fundamentally changed their entire thinking about faster than light travel. Maybe something completely different. A different take on propulsion."  
Knight turned away, looked at the engines again, then off into the middle distance. Unfocused. Letting her mind drift. When she spoke, it was a whisper. "Something alien."

Fall - who had been shadowing the crew for some time - looked on from her hiding place in the large engine room as Knight and Grimes discussed these impossibilities. She was hiding behind a massive processor off in one corner of the room. From this vantage point, she could see the computer room, the area above the engines that Knight and Grimes were inspecting and, beyond that, the cooling tanks as well as the tanks which processed and recycled all the ship's water.  
She hadn't bothered suiting up, since she didn't need to breathe, so she was much lighter and faster than the others. Would it be enough, though? She shook her head. Perhaps not.  
She wanted to reach out to them - at least, these two - but wasn't sure if it was the right time. Would Knight believe her?  
Fall - despite her incredibly powerful computer brain - didn't know the answer, so she stayed the course. She would remain hidden. For now.

As Keppler, Valentine and Rank left the security room and headed into the passenger cabins, they spread out once again to explore. When Valentine was alone in one of the rooms - this one also burnt to a crisp, though it contained no body, just two empty cyro beds installed in the floor which the fire had exposed - she quickly punched a sequence into her wrist communicator.  
Masking the signal from the others, she sent off the message to her colleagues. She smiled then went back to her exploration.

Marlowe, Io and Zorn were just leaving the Star Deck, heading down into A Deck, when Marlowe got the communication. As the others headed down the staircase, Marlowe stopped and accessed the communique.  
ARMED. READY TO TAKE OUT THE OTHERS IF NEED ARISES.  
Marlowe nodded and continued down, rejoining the others. Io looked at him expectantly.  
"Our spy has herself a gun," Marlowe said.  
Io smiled but Marlowe didn't - he never did - nor did Zorn. Then Io looked puzzled.  
"Captain," he said.  
Marlowe nodded but remained silent. Io took that as a sign to continue.  
"If we find the object first," he said, "are we just going to stick around and wait for Valentine or... ?" He trailed off.  
Marlowe stopped. This time, the others stopped as well. "The object is all that matters. If she's not with us when we have it, we go. Plain and simple. Fuck Valentine."  
Io nodded, smiling. Zorn looked at the others. "Doesn't seem right."  
"Right," Marlowe said. "Not a word I'm interested in discussing when it comes to our business. Understood?"  
Zorn didn't answer right away. Marlowe raised his eyebrows, the rest of his face impassive. But he took a step towards Zorn. Finally, Zorn answered. "Aye, captain."  
A nod from Marlowe. Then they were on their way again.

Umbray watched the airlock seal behind her, locking away the setting, red sun of Aurora. She waited until she could hear the air pressure change before taking off her breather, hanging it in the alcove provided and heading inside the residence.  
Rope was waiting for her, of course. Rope, with his no doubt calculating eyes hidden behind dark glasses. Rope, always observing, rarely commenting.  
He led her from the airlock through Hastler's residence, past the vast library, the almost as vast dining room, to the control center. It was modest in comparison to the more luxurious areas of the manor house. There were comfortable places to sit and a wet bar but the room was dominated by two walls, one of which was a bank of monitors, the other a window looking out on the desolate landscape of Aurora.  
Hastler and Laeni were already there, of course, the coordinator with a glass in one hand, a cigar in the other, Laeni just looking lost. Hastler welcomed her as she entered the room.  
"Ah, there you are," he said. "Just in time. Please, come in! Rope, if you'll stay in the hallway. Thank you."  
Rope nodded and closed the door behind Umbray as she entered. Hastler waved a hand in a particular direction and the wall of monitors came to life. They flickered and sputtered, snapping on in staggered fashion.  
Each of them offered a view of Aurora from the air, moving slowly and methodically. Drones, Umbray knew - no larger than a football - each of them monitoring different areas of the colony and points beyond.  
The sun was set now, disappearing behind the vast mountains in the distance. Umbray hated this planet, hated the red sun, especially at this time of day. It burned her eyes. She was glad that it was now hidden and breathed a sigh of relief. Mercifully, this project was almost over. More than six years of work but it was all about to be over. A few more days - a week, at the most. She could do that.  
"I've had rooms prepared for both of you, of course," Hastler said. "But I expect we'll spend most of the night in here, waiting to see if our little experiment has worked. I'm being told that they'll most likely come out of hiding tonight, after the sun sets. There's enough of them now that they feel... safer to hunt freely, outside of the caves."  
Laeni looked nervous. He approached Hastler, a hand limply outstretched. God, he was such a pussy.  
"And you're sure," he began. "What I mean to say is, they can't get to us in here? You've made sure of that?"  
"My good man!" Hastler said. "This place is a fortress! All the armies of Troy couldn't get in here! No need to fear. You're safe. We all are."  
Umbray knew that "we all" consisted of the three of them in this room, Rope, and a security team of six. Those were the only people in the manor house. Everyone else was fair game. Rats for the experiment.  
Hastler walked towards the bank of monitors. He pointed at one near the top left. "Ah, there. This is the one to watch."  
He made a swirling motion with two outstretched fingers and the image on this particular monitor now filled the entire wall, each monitor making up the image like pieces of a puzzle. It showed the entrance to the mine. Nothing was happening there at the moment but soon enough...  
Hastler puffed on his cigar then took a drink. "Let's see what comes crawling out, shall we?"  
He smiled.

The Beast moved through darkness. It filled the width of the air duct but moved with such silence, such grace that were anyone observing it, they would have been transfixed by the creature. It glided through the small space and emerged into a corridor.  
In the light, it moved swiftly, deftly, searching for the shadows as if by instinct. It passed by a pile of corpses lining one wall, all of them burnt beyond recognition, paying them no mind.  
As it found the entrance to another duct and slipped inside, the lights above it flickered, went out for a moment. They came on again but remained off balance, stuttering, as if the mere presence of the Beast had damaged them in some way.

Knight looked up to the flickering lights high up in the engine room. The power wasn't holding the way she would have liked. But it was still working, which was the main takeaway. She returned her attention to Grimes as he pointed out a spot on the engine below them. They were both standing on the glass floor looking down on the massive power cells fueling the engines.  
"Right there," Grimes said. "That's where they did it."  
"I see it!" Knight said. "I'm impressed, Grimes. Really."  
Grimes shrugged. "I'm an engineer. It's my job."  
Knight slapped him on the shoulder. "Yeah, but you normally half-ass everything."  
Grimes nodded. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."  
Knight brought a hand up to her chin. She gnawed at a thumbnail. "So, you think we could do it?"  
Grimes raised his arms in the air, swept them behind his head, cracking his knuckles as he stretched. "Yeah. I think we can."  
"Fuckin A," Knight said.  
Grimes was moving again, a ball of energy. He took a few steps away from Knight, still looking down at the engines. "I mean, we could easily get these puppies up and running again."  
Knight joined him. "You think so?"  
"Shit yeah," he said. "Now that we know how they did it? Absolutely. And I've got every confidence that we could do it with our engines, as well. Fuck, any engines, as long they're powerful enough."  
Knight shook her head. "It's incredible."  
Grimes crossed his arms across his chest. "You're telling me. Who would have thought a damn ghost ship would hold the secret to a new method of travel?"  
Knight frowned. "I'm sure there's all kinds of surprises around here. Not all of them pleasant, though."

Zorn chomped on his nasty brown cigarette, zoomed in on the unfolding map of the ship that he was looking at on his portable screen, then spit the cigarette out. "Yo! Found it."  
Io was immediately by his side, looking over his shoulder at his screen. Marlowe activated his own screen to confirm. He nodded. "I think you're right. Lifeform. Appears to be roughly the right size."  
"That's our destination then," Zorn said. "Next deck down. The ballroom."  
"It appears so," Marlowe said.  
They were on B Deck, along the main corridor. Unlike the crew of the Argo, they weren't interested in passenger cabins or exploration. They were focused entirely on their mission. Besides, Zorn observed, every cabin that they came across had been burned, destroying most valuables that they would have contained.  
There were burned bodies all along this hallway. People that had been running when they had been burned alive. Zorn noticed that his hands were shaking. He produced another cigarette, sparked it into short, smoldering life.  
"Heads up," Io said.  
He pointed down the corridor in the direction they were headed. All of them knew what he was referring to. The probe from the Argo was about to enter this deck and head this way. They were all wearing signal dampeners, so the probe wouldn't recognize them as life signs but the crew of the Argo would surely notice the shape of a trio of standing, moving people on their map, even if they didn't register correctly.  
"Everyone drop," Marlowe said.  
They laid down on the floor of the hallway, near the other bodies. If the Argo crew noticed them at all, they would assume that they were simply three more bodies piled up with the rest.  
Zorn thought that he was far too close to the body he had chosen to lie next to. Its eyeless gaze seemed to pierce his brain and the open, silent scream of a mouth chilled his blood.  
The probe took its time, ducking into cabins whose doors were hanging open and pausing in front of cabins whose doors were closed, making rudimentary scans of what was inside. Zorn could feel sweat beading up on his forehead. His neck. Dripping down his temples.  
That corpse. That fucking corpse. It was looking at him.  
He tried closing his eyes but that just made it worse. It was too easy to imagine the long-dead body reaching out and grasping hold of his neck. Squeezing.  
Opening his eyes once again, he shifted his gaze away from the corpse's face, drifting downwards. He stopped when he reached the chest, frowned. There was a huge, gaping wound in the corpse's chest, not a gunshot. It was as if something had exploded through its ribs.  
The probe passed over him and continued down the hallway. Soon it was gone. They gave it another moment before getting up again.  
"Captain," Zorn said while lighting up another cigarette. Marlowe turned to regard him. "This corpse is... not right. Something killed it that wasn't the fire or a gun. Something ripped itself out of him."  
Marlowe looked at him, totally dispassionate, face blank. They held each other's gaze for a moment, then Marlowe turned away again. "We're going. It's the job."  
And that was all.  
Zorn shook his head, glad to have his cigarette. He followed the others, a few meters behind them, as they all headed for the stairwell and the deck below.

Keppler, Valentine and Rank emerged from the stairwell onto the Game Deck. There were security checkpoints here but most of the deck was dominated by a large space reserved for play: card tables, gaming systems, VR interfaces, roulette wheels.  
All of them burned.  
Keppler was on the comm with Knight and Grimes. "We're headed up to C Deck, the ballroom. Lifeform of some kind up there."  
"Lifeform?" Knight said over the comm. "What kind of lifeform?"  
"Unknown," Keppler said.  
"Oh, I see it now," Knight said. "Yeah, that's weird. It's small but definitely a lifeform. Nothing could have survived here without life support for that long. Could it?"  
"I don't know," Keppler said.  
Knight sighed. "Well, be careful. Grimes and I are running an experiment on the engines. We think we can get them running again which, at the very fucking least, would make our trip back home much easier. But, potentially, a whole Hell of a lot more."  
"Explain," Keppler said.  
Knight did. "Don't want to say too much until we have some answers but we think these people encountered some kind of alien space craft. Based on its design, they modified their own engines to travel much faster than was possible back then. Shit, even today."  
Keppler was intrigued. "What kind of power are we talking about?"  
Knight paused before answering. "Um, I don't completely understand it but it creates some sort of warp tunnel, we think."  
Valentine raised her eyebrows and shared a moment with Rank.  
"Amazing," Keppler said.  
"Yeah," Knight said. "In theory, even a ship following behind would be able to go just as fast. Use the same tunnel, you understand?"  
Keppler nodded. "Copy that. Don't take too long, though. We need to regroup at some point."  
"Affirmative," Knight said. "We've confirmed that this ship is in a decaying orbit. Probably will be a while before it hits the planet's atmosphere, so we're okay there, but we may hit some debris. That worries me."  
"Right," Keppler said. "Keep working. Report back to me when you have something to report."  
"Gotcha," Knight said.  
Keppler disconnected the comm and took a few steps forward, almost running into the other two. She recoiled, was about to ask them what they were doing, then saw why they had stopped.  
On the floor of the Game Deck, just past the security checkpoints in front of a large poker table, a burned corpse was sprawled out. But this corpse clearly wasn't human.  
Rank slowly turned towards Keppler. "Captain, I think Knight was right about these people encountering an alien craft."  
Keppler could only nod. She was too shocked, too engrossed in the horrid remains of the creature in front of her. Though badly burned, they could still make out some distinguishing features: an elongated head; bones that looked like metal, like a carapace of an insect; what looked like two sets of jaws, one smaller than the other and sitting inside the first set; some kind of tubes sticking out of its back; a long tail that ended in a spike.  
It was huge, well over two meters. Lying nearby was the corpse of a human being that had clearly been torn in half before the fire had overtaken this deck. By this creature? It seemed likely.  
"Captain?" Valentine said.  
Keppler shook her head, answering their unasked question. "I've never seen anything like it."  
The alien body was hunched over, elongated head down, its face on the ground, second set of jaws hanging out. It looked like it had been burned while in mid-strike or at least while in combat of some kind.  
Another human body was a meter away, a burned rifle in hand. This seemed to confirm Keppler's thinking.  
Valentine swept the area. Keppler thought that the woman seemed extremely comfortable with the rifle she was carrying. It surprised her.  
Rank was locked in place near the alien body. He shook his head again and again, as if on a loop. Keppler slowly, cautiously approached him, put a hand on his shoulder. Despite her efforts, Rank jumped.  
"Jesus," he said. "Jesus Fucking Christ. I don't know, captain. I don't know. This... This is a little too much for me."  
Keppler kept her hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to go back to the ship? Keep an eye on Fall and the doc for me?"  
Rank took a deep breath, closed his eyes. This seemed to clear his head. Opening his eyes once again, he looked at Keppler. "No, I'm okay. I can do this."  
Keppler nodded. "Okay, good, because I need you here."  
She patted his shoulder and stepped away, letting him deal with it in his own way. She explored the Game Deck. The others followed suit, marveling at the destruction of a once grand, floating palace.

The ballroom looked like the burned and shattered remains of a nightmare. Zorn was so disturbed that he let his cigarette drop from an open, shocked mouth. The ugly, twisted brown butt hit the floor, bounced and came to rest beside one of the burnt egg-shaped orbs that dotted the entire ballroom.  
The vast, open space of the room was covered in black ash that had solidified over the decades. To Zorn, it looked like the entire room was coated in volcanic rock, like some island that had bubbled out of a diseased ocean eons ago. Along the walls, he could just make out the remains of people; people that had been affixed to the wall at some point before death, now just burnt corpses silently screaming and looking down on the three of them.  
But what attracted his gaze most was the remains of a huge creature set at the back of the room, near the far wall. It was massive and looked like some kind of horrific, metal insect.  
The lights above flickered, shut off and on irregularly as Zorn and the others approached it. It looked like it had sustained substantial damage before it had been incinerated. Limbs had been blown off and most of its head was gone, a gaping, open wound where half of it should have been.  
Their lifeform was not far from this monstrosity, off to its right, in a corner of the room. Cautiously, they stepped around the egg-like pods, the huge, dead monster looming larger and larger as they made their way across the room.  
The lights flickered and went out again. To Zorn, it seemed like they were out longer this time. He could feel sweat bead on his forehead, wiped it. Finally, the lights came back on.  
What they were looking for was situated in a corner that was relatively unscathed by the Hellish wave of fire that had swept through the ship. Zorn could see it now, partially obscured by a pile of dead aliens: one of the "eggs", this one a brownish yellow with shades of green. It looked alive. All around it were the remains of what looked vaguely like amber, though the pieces were clear, not golden. Had this egg been protected by some kind of coating during its long stay here? Its two hundred year plus hibernation?  
All these thoughts left his mind in an instant when he could see the egg in its entirety, revealed from behind the pile of burnt alien corpses. He stopped. The others did the same.  
The egg was open.  
The top of it had opened in a cross shape, unfolded and splayed out. The three of them were frozen in place. Zorn looked about, trying to find the creature that had escaped the egg. Had it felt them enter the room? Had it opened especially for them?  
The lights flickered then went dark. Zorn could hear movement near him and he stepped away from it. In the dark, he turned on his portable screen, immediately switching it to motion sensor mode. The lights flickered on and off. Zorn could see both himself and the other two on the screen and, rapidly approaching them, something small but fast. "Look out!"  
He rushed and pushed Io out of the way as the lights came to life and something leapt through the air at them. It looked like some kind of large spider but also a hand; a fleshy hand, brown with long, webbed fingers. It also had a tail.  
Zorn and Io hit the ground with a jolt. The wind was knocked out of Zorn but Io rolled and was up in an instant, raising his rifle at the creature, which was now on the ground, heading for him.  
Marlowe immediately knocked the man's weapon away. "Don't shoot it, you idiot! We knew this might happen! I'll use the net!"  
He was already raising his own weapon, which had a larger, wider barrel than Io's rifle. "Come on!" The creature reacted, starting towards him instead of Io. He stayed in the same position until the last possible moment, the creature mere inches away. Then he jumped aside, his weapon moving with him, pivoting in the air, aimed at the monster.  
He fired and an industrial strength net expanded out of the barrel. The net totally enveloped the creature. It was a perfect shot.  
The creature tumbled to the ground, writhing about, trying to escape its confinement. Marlowe, out of breath, looked to Io. "Don't just stand there! The box!"  
Io and Zorn got up at the same time and Io grabbed what at first appeared to simply be a small piece of glass. He dropped it flat on the ground and slid it towards the creature. As it slipped under the writhing beast, the piece of glass - which was, in actuality, extremely hard plastic - began to unfold, grow larger. Soon, it was a box completely enclosing the monster. A series of green lights came to life around the base of it. Io hesitated for a moment, looking like he was amazed that it had worked, before producing his portable screen and activating a few buttons on it.  
The box raised off the ground, hovering in place. Io moved it remotely a few feet away from them. The creature inside, now untangled from the net, rocked about but it was trapped. Io smiled.  
Zorn approached him. "That box gonna hold that thing?"  
Io nodded. "Nothing can get through it. Nothing. As long as the seal holds, it's trapped." He pointed at the green lights. "Whatever's green is keen."  
Zorn shook his head. "Christ, I hope so."  
Marlowe strode past them, wiping sweat from his brow. "Good work, Io. Let's get moving. There's a company who wants to pay us large bags of cash for this thing and I plan on taking them up on the offer."

Verve saw the blinking light on her desk screen before her assistant - Harvey was his name - poked his head into the room, a shocked expression on his face. "Call, ma'am."  
Verve narrowed her eyes at him. "I can see that. Why are you telling me?"  
Harvey adjusted his tie. He looked nervous. "It's from the big guy."  
Verve froze for a moment, not knowing what to do. She knew exactly who Harvey was referring to, of course, but why was he calling? He'd never called before. Finally, she shooed Harvey out of the office with a wave of her hand. She took a deep breath and activated the call: audio only.  
"Mr. Weyland," she said. "It's a pleasure to hear from you."  
"The pleasure is all mine." All urbane sophistication but that arrogance could be found even in his voice alone.  
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Verve asked.  
"I like to get my hands dirty," Weyland said. "Check in on all our little projects. Personally."  
Verve leaned forward in her chair. "Then, surely, your call should be directed planetside. To Coordinator Hastler."  
A small chuckle from Weyland. "Oh, you think your little station isn't a project of mine, as well, do you?"  
"How do you mean?" Verve asked.  
"I mean all of my facilities are my projects," Weyland said. "Every last one. Even out here past the frontier."  
Verve felt sweat bead on her forehead. "Well, if--"  
Weyland cut her off. "We've never met, have we, Ms. Verve?"  
Verve paused for a fraction of a second. "No, we haven't, sir."  
"Why is that, I wonder?" he asked.  
"I--"  
Again, he cut her off. "I suppose the real question is why can't I see you, Ms. Verve?"  
She had to lie. Quick. "Visuals are down. This machine is really a pain in--"  
"Oh, please," he said. "Don't lie. You think I can't see your diagnostics right here on my screen?"  
She was silent.  
He spoke. "Let's end this quaint charade. Activate this call properly."  
She sighed and punched a sequence into the interface. At once, P.T. Weyland was visible in the room. A hologram of him appeared in front of her desk. He appeared to be a man in his sixties but in extremely good shape, trim and in good health. His hair was graying, his skin mottled. Verve knew that, as a clone, he was less than twenty years old but this was how he had appeared since coming out of the growing tube.  
He smiled at her, crossed the office, stepping closer to her desk. The hologram shifted slightly, flickered as he moved. Verve could just faintly see the light from the projectors in the room, then they were gone. State of the art, top of the line. Like everything in this station.  
"Ah," Weyland said, "that's better. Now we can talk properly." He looked about the office, seemed none too pleased. "Little drab, if you ask me. Why not put up an interactive wall with a spectacular view? Scotland, perhaps? The moors, maybe? Would liven the place up considerably."  
Verve leaned back in her chair, resigned. She shook her head. "It would be a distraction."  
Weyland shrugged and turned to regard her. "What game are you playing, Ms. Verve?" He said her name with such dismissal - such disdain - that she was taken aback.  
She stared at him. "I don't know what you mean."  
Weyland huffed. Those eyes. The arrogance in those eyes. "We're past this, now. You have your little spies and yet you think that I don't have my own?"  
She didn't know what to say, so remained silent. Weyland smiled and paced to a corner of the office. He pretended to lean against a wall.  
He shook his head. "Synadrone Systems. What kind of deal are they offering you? What percentage? Thirty? Forty?"  
Verve leaned forward in her chair. "Is this the part where you offer me a better deal?"  
Weyland laughed. It was a humorless, awful sound. "I would never sink so low. No, no. I know that it's more than simple money that ties you to that failing company. They built and packaged you." He stomped across the room and leaned on her desk, hands out in front of him. It was a convincing stance; perhaps he was leaning on something where he was calling from. "Or should I say grown? Grown and packaged. Would that be more accurate?"  
Verve finally stood up, meeting his gaze. She hoped her eyes were intense. "And what if it is?"  
Weyland smiled but it was more of a sneer. "Did Synadrone really think that making a clone of my daughter would rattle me? You aren't even my daughter."  
Verve held her ground. "Neither of us is really who we appear to be."  
"The difference is that I run a multi-system company," Weyland said. "I wield unchecked power. And you? You're just a cloned spy. You're nothing. And if you think that you can steal what's on that ship out there, you're very much mistaken. I already have my own people on board. Oh, yes. Both on a ship that I've paid for and a spy of my own on the little ship that you pay for."  
"You--"  
"We're done here. Prepare to be boarded." He smiled. "I love being able to say a sentence like that. I mean, how often does one get to say such things? 'Prepare to be boarded.' Incredible."  
He started walking away from her desk as the call ended and his hologram blinked out in a haze of green light. Verve nearly plopped down into her chair. Her screen was suddenly filled with alerts.  
Harvey reappeared, this time entering her office entirely and not just poking his head inside. He looked worried, almost crazed. "Major security alert, ma'am. Looks like every ship currently docked with us had... some kind of army on it. Soldiers. Everywhere."  
Verve looked up at him. For the first time in her short life, she had no idea what to do. None at all.

Hastler stood up from his chair, excited, holding on hand aloft, cigar held between fore- and ring-finger, pointing. "There! Right there, you see it?!" He smiled wide.  
Umbray and Laeni also got out of their chairs. Umbray had been getting bored so this sudden excitement was a relief. She set down her hardly-touched drink on the end table and took a step closer to the screens.  
Hastler enlarged the monitor that he was referring to. Now, Umbray could hear as well as see, though it made no difference to the alien, who moved completely silently. All she could hear was the ambient noise of the wind howling. And, yes, in the dark she could just make out one of the creatures. One of the aliens. It crept across the rocky landscape towards the colony.  
Hastler joined Umbray. She saw that his own drink was still in hand. He looked at her, that smile still plastered on his face. "Let's take a closer look, shall we?"  
A wave of a hand and the drone dropped lower, getting closer to the alien. It was the sticks or tubes sticking out of the creature's back: to Umbray, those were the worst. They just seemed wrong to her. She couldn't stop herself from shuddering.  
"Time for a test, I'd say," Hastler declared, both hands raised in the air.  
He shuffled to the wet bar and produced a small device from under it. It was no bigger than a candy bar, black and nondescript. Hastler used it like a remote control. Umbray knew, in theory, what he was doing: tuning into the frequency of the drone that they were currently monitoring. Soon, he had it and smiled. Clamping the cigar in his mouth, he pointed the control device at the wall of monitors dramatically and pressed a button on it.  
Now, the sound of the howling wind was drowned out by a high-pitched, flat tone coming from the drone. Umbray noted that this same sound came from Hastlter's device itself. At first, nothing else happened, the alien was still making its way towards the colony.  
Then it stopped. It didn't clutch its head in pain, nothing so dramatic. But it looked disturbed, rattled.  
Hastler took a step towards the monitors, out from behind the bar. He looked elated. "There! It's working. By God, it's working!"  
"Jesus," Laeni said.  
"Now, for a command," Hastler said.  
He punched a sequence into the control device and, slowly, the alien stood up. "Incredible!" Another sequence. The alien turned around. "It's under my control. Just like we planned!"  
He approached Laeni with such force that the smaller man recoiled for a moment, expecting an attack. But it was a hug. A big bear hug and a growl from Hastler. Umbray had never seen him happier.  
"A complete success, my good man!" Hastler said after the hug was broken. "You've done great work, governor. Great work. The Company will reward you handsomely."  
Years of work, Umbray knew. Years of adding the solution to the colony's water supply. Years of making sure that the solution sank its way into the DNA of every person who lived on the planet. Years of work just to make sure that, when becoming the host of one of these creatures, their DNA was sufficiently altered to the point that the creature could, in theory, be controlled.  
But it had paid off. The science and weapons division had worked on that solution for almost ten years before they considered using it on this backwater, failed mining colony. The perfect place for some colonists to disappear.  
Umbray approached the screens and observed the alien. Standing still. At attention. She smiled then turned to the two men. "What about him?"  
Hastler took a drink, had a smoke, then nodded. He punched a new sequence into the control device. On the monitor, the alien was free once again, off and heading towards the colony. "Off to make more troops! Onward, loyal soldier! We salute you!"  
And he did, standing at attention and saluting the wall of monitors. He held the position for as long as he could before bursting out with laughter. Umbray joined him. Laeni looked more nervous, just smiling and nodding to them.  
"Oh!" Hastler said. "Before I forget." He headed back to the bar and produced two more control devices, handing one to each of them. "Your own portable generals. No one else but the three of us have these on Aurora. You're the only two I can trust."  
He saw that Umbray wasn't drinking and walked over to the end table, grabbed her glass. He walked to her and offered the drink. Umbray took it, now glad to have it.  
Hastler raised his own glass. "To the project."  
Glasses were clinked together and they drank. Hastler finished his off with one swallow, then headed back to the bar for a refill. As he poured himself another glass, he spoke, not looking at them. "We observe for the rest of the night and leave in the morning. After that, lesser men will come to take our place. Oversee the project. And we? We three explorers? We will all be rewarded for our efforts. Now, if either of you want to get some sleep, I would suggest that now is the time."  
Laeni looked like he wanted to say yes but he remained silent. Of course he did, the little weasel. And Umbray?  
Suddenly she didn't feel bored or tired at all. She wanted to see this through to the end.

Knight was nearing the end of her call with Keppler. She stood above Grimes as he opened the panel that would allow them access to the engines directly. "That worries me." She paused, listening to Keppler. "Gotcha."  
And that was the end of the call. Grimes just finished opening up the panel on the floor, which led to a ladder heading down into the engines themselves. Both of them jumped when the intruder spoke.  
"Lifeform?"  
They both turned to regard Fall standing beside them as if she had been with them the entire time. Knight actually took a step back, away from the other woman. Grimes stood his ground, looking from Fall to Knight, as if trying to read her next move. And what was that move, exactly? Knight didn't know.  
She settled on talk. "How did you get out?"  
Fall scratched her inner arm nervously and looked away. "I have my ways."  
Knight shook her head. "I'm calling the captain."  
Grimes stood up, both hands held out in front of him. "Knight? Knight. She isn't a spy. That's not what's going on here."  
Knight got in his face. She was pissed. Pissed at people lying to her, of people concealing the truth from her. "Then what is going on? Huh?" She turned to Fall. "I might have said that I'm okay with waiting to hear your story but I think, given the fucking circumstances, that we need to hear it. Now."  
Fall shook her head. "There isn't time. You said that there's a lifeform. Can I see what you're talking about?"  
Knight looked at her. She saw sincerity on her face. She sighed. She grabbed her portable screen and brought up the unfolding map of the Lorelei. She zoomed in on the ballroom, where the reading of the lifeform originated. Fall joined her and looked at the readout. Knight was once again struck by the smaller woman, by her demeanor, by her closeness.  
Fall nodded, then looked up at Knight. "This could be it. And, if it is, we have to destroy it. Have to destroy this whole ship. It can't get out."  
Knight shut the screen off. "What? What can't get out?"  
Fall stepped away, looked at Grimes, who remained silent. She looked back at Knight. "A parasite. A creature. They gestate inside the bodies of other organisms and grow. And when they emerge..." She shook her head again. "It's the end of anyone nearby. Everyone."  
Knight tried to wrap her head around what Fall was saying. "That doesn't make any sense. I've never heard of these things."  
Fall took a step closer to Knight, grabbed hold of both her hands. "The Company has covered up their existence. United Systems Military, too. But they've been around for thousands of years. Out here in the depths of space. Waiting. Hunting."  
Knight snatched her hands away from the smaller woman. "And how do you know about them? Why are you the only one among us with this high fucking knowledge? What makes you so special?"  
Fall looked small once again, looking down. "I'm not. I'm not special." She looked up, meeting Knight's gaze. "And I may not be the only one among us who knows about them. Or at least that's there's some kind of creature here. I think that Keppler was right. There is a spy among us. I was accessing communication logs when no one was watching. I was looking for chatter. Strange reports about monsters, that sort of thing. What I found were coded messages sent to an unknown ship. They'd been deleted but the holes they left behind were still there. Whoever sent them is our spy."  
Knight looked to Grimes, who took a step back from her. "Do you know about this? How do I know that this isn't all lies? What do you know?"  
Grimes put up his hands again. "Look, I'm an asshole. You know that, I know that. But I'm telling the truth. Fall is no spy. I don't know anything about her monster. What I do know is that she believes it exists. That's what's important to her, not some corporate espionage."  
Knight held her gaze with him for another moment before turning back to Fall. "Talk."  
Fall looked away, then seemed to find her courage and looked back. "Look, I have a twin. Her name is Call. We're both hunting these things. I haven't heard from her in a while but she's encountered them. USM Auriga, twenty years ago. She was on that ship."  
"Bullshit," Knight said.  
"No bullshit," Fall continued. "We both had hacked into the military's records on these things. We knew they existed and that they had to be stopped. So we dedicated our lives to it."  
Knight grabbed the smaller woman by the shoulders. She stopped short of shaking her but she held firm just the same. "Stop lying! Your story is rubbish. You know how I know? Okay, you're twins, right? Yes?" A nod from Fall. "Okay, well that's trash because twenty years ago? You'd be a fucking toddler. A kid at most. Same as me! Come on."  
Grimes took a step closer to the both of them. He looked at Knight, then Fall. "Tell her. No, better yet, show her."  
He produced a small knife from his belt of tools and handed it to Fall. Reluctantly, Fall took it. Knight let go of her, gave her some space. But not much. They were still only half a meter apart.  
Fall opened the palm of her left hand and held it out. With her right hand, she made a swift, shallow cut with the knife. Right across the open palm. Knight winced as Fall did the same.  
The wound began to bleed but it wasn't blood that came oozing out of the cut, at least not what Knight understood as blood. It was white, like milk. Fall left her palm open for a moment, letting Knight get a good look, before closing it in a fist. The white blood dribbled onto the floor of the ship, producing tiny plinks of sound.  
Knight slowly shook her head as the realization came to her. "You're synthetic."  
Fall nodded just as slowly. "Second gen. An auton."  
Knight opened her mouth in shock. "There's only a few of you out there."  
Fall was still nodding. "Nine. There's only nine of us. Assuming that my sister is still alive. So I don't really age. Do you see?"  
Knight was still trying to process it all. "But you're so human. You respond to pain. To..."  
She trailed off and Grimes looked away, embarrassed. But Fall actually smiled. It was a sad smile but it looked genuine. "I feel. I don't know how but we all do. We all feel. Pain... pleasure." She closed the distance between them in an instant, grabbing hold of Knight' hands once again. "I didn't know I could feel like that. Call talked to me about it once but I didn't believe her. But it's real. I can feel... what you and I have."  
Knight felt a tear stream down her cheek. She wiped it away, still pissed. "What? Fucking?"  
Fall shook her head and ran a hand along Knight' arm. "More than that."  
Grimes cleared his throat. That broke the spell and the two women backed away from each other.  
Fall nodded. "We have to get up to that ballroom. Or at least tell the others to be careful and report what they find."  
Knight sighed. "If I believe you - and I don't know if I do! But if I believe you, how are we going to warn Keppler and the others? Huh? She's not going to believe you. She thinks you're a spy. So how are we going to warn them if we have no way of knowing about this... creature?"  
Fall looked crestfallen. "I don't know."  
Grimes took a longing look at the engines, then looked at them, resigned. "Right. I guess we go up. Fast. We meet up with them. Try to convince them of the truth in person. Maybe that'll work."  
Without a better plan in place, Knight agreed. Fall as well. A moment later, they left the engine room, heading up.

Keppler shook her head, marveled and horrified by the burnt corpse of the massive creature near the back wall of the ballroom. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. And she and her crew had seen some strange shit out here past the Frontier.  
"Take a look at this, captain." This was Valentine, standing not far from Keppler, double-checking her portable screen.  
Keppler joined her. Near her was what looked like one of the eggs that they had seen throughout the room but this one wasn't burnt like the others. It was, however, open at the top.  
Valentine looked at Keppler. "Whatever was here, ain't anymore."  
Keppler nodded slowly. She turned to find Rank, who was still a ways back in the ballroom, puzzling over the burnt eggs dotting the floor. "This is a dead end. Let's head up to the captain's quarters. Should be behind the wheel house."  
Rank joined them, observed the open egg behind them. "And we better keep an eye out for whatever was in that."  
Keppler had to agree with him.

Marlowe, Io and Zorn reached the stairwell, their quarry following behind them floating a meter above the floor. The lights in the stairwell weren't working properly anymore. They flashed off and on, plunging them into darkness for what seemed like increasingly longer periods of time.  
Zorn turned the light mounted on his shoulder on but that was worse: just his low, weak light piercing through the momentary darkness. Still, he left it on just in case.  
They entered the stairwell, Marlowe in the lead, Zorn in the middle, Io trailing behind, controlling the floating box with the creature inside. The hand/spider creature had become silent and still. It was curled up in a corner of the box. Zorn didn't like it. It was like it was waiting for something.  
They were about to ascend the stairwell - the door closing behind Io - when the lights went down again. And stayed that way.  
Everyone froze. Zorn was the only one with a light and it was currently only illuminating the staircase heading down. He turned to illuminate their way up when he saw something that stopped him in his tracks.  
Above and behind Io something dangled down from the ceiling, something curled up in the infrastructure of the stairwell. Something black that gleamed in the lone, dim beam of light that Zorn provided.  
At first, all Zorn could see was some kind of tube stretching down from the black mass above towards Io. A strange tube or rope of some kind.  
When Zorn finally realized what it was - a tail ending in a nasty-looking spike - it was too late. The tail struck Io between his neck and right shoulder. There was an eruption of blood bursting from the wound. Io drew in a shocked breath, held it. The tail continued down his body, through his chest. It emerged on his left side, just above his hip. Chunks of flesh exploded from his body alongside the waterfall of blood.  
Then, from above, the Beast descended. Zorn and Marlowe were paralyzed with fear.  
To Zorn, it seemed as if the Beast was defying gravity. Part of his brain tried to rationalize it: had the gravity failed all of a sudden? It floated down until it was just above Io's head.  
It was vaguely humanoid but everything else about it was entirely alien. It was black and seemed to be made out of both flesh and metal, as if they had been fused together by some unholy craftsman. It was tall, well over two meters and approaching three. Its head was elongated. Zorn saw no eyes, just a flat, smooth, curving blackness above its jaws, which gleamed silver in the beam of his light. Its back was adorned with four open tubes. Zorn was reminded of exhaust pipes on old internal combustion powered vehicles.  
It grabbed hold of Io with both clawed hands - they rested on the man's shoulders - and lowered its head, opening its mouth. Behind Io, the thing in the box went crazy, bouncing back and forth inside its prison. They were related. Zorn didn't know much about the nature of the creatures that they were after, but he was able to infer that much, at least.  
When the Beast's jaws were completely open, another set of jaws shot out from inside its mouth: white, smaller, fleshier. There was a sickening crunch as this second pair of jaws punched through the very top of Io's head. The man's skull cracked open. Blood and brains spattered the Beast's face and ran down Io's forehead. The inner jaws retracted as swiftly as they had descended. Io's eyes rolled back in his head. He was dead.  
His body caught up with this sudden information and crumpled to the ground as the Beast let go of the man and ripped its tail out of his body. Immediately, the Beast went for the box holding its cousin.  
Marlowe and Zorn came to life, their paralysis suddenly broken, reflexes taking over. Zorn took aim and fired at the Beast. All but one of his shots went wide, hitting the wall behind Io and the Beast. The shot that landed seemed to ricochet off the Beast's domed head but it got its attention.  
The Beast whirled towards him. Marlowe pushed the man aside and took aim with his own rifle - one of the new, organic dissolving models - and shouted to him. "Take care of the box! I've got him!"  
Zorn scrambled, slinging his rifle and grabbing his portable screen. Marlowe fired at the Beast but it jumped up, out of the way, taking hold of the underside of the stairwell once again.  
The shot hit the door to the stairwell harmlessly, not even jarring the wall. Zorn gained control of the box and moved it out of the way. It was now hanging over the open shaft of the stairwell.  
Marlowe whirled about, trying to track the Beast. The lights flickered on, off again. It was maddening.  
Marlowe found his target just as it was about to pounce on him. There was a suspended second of time as Marlowe's finger curled around the trigger of his rifle, starting to apply pressure and the Beast made ready to jump at him.  
Then the entire ship was rocked by something from outside. Zorn and Marlowe were knocked to the ground, Marlowe's shot firing high and wide, missing its target. The Beast was jostled in place, throwing off its attack.  
Zorn could hear the ship buckling, bending. It had been struck by something and had been damaged by the impact.  
There came the sound of screaming metal and the stairwell collapsed, from the top down to the bottom. The Beast and the box fell with it. Zorn watched, shocked as the stairs fell down into the shaft. He and Marlowe barely escaped the carnage, rolling out of the way, towards the door.  
After a moment, it was over. Zorn stood up and risked a look down the hole that was now the stairwell. It stretched all the way down to the bottom level but it didn't look like the hull had been breached.  
Marlowe joined him, both of them looking down. There was no sign of the Beast or of the box in the wreckage. "Jesus."  
Zorn nodded in agreement. Jesus, indeed.


	8. Chapter 8

When Blanche woke up, all he could see was the ceiling. He was lying on his back, his head felt like it was splitting open and he wished he had a drop or two of QR7 on hand to scare away the pain.  
He sat up, now wishing he was dead the pain was so bad. From this vantage point on the bridge, he could see the Lorelei and beyond it - blotting out the stars entirely - the vast gas giant in which they were orbiting. What he saw next made him get up and run towards the communications station.  
A field of debris was about to hit the Lorelei. To Blanche, it looked like the remains of a moon that had broken up some millennia ago.  
He managed to get the comms up and running in time. "Keppler, anybody, grab hold of something! Now!"  
Before he finished speaking, a small chunk of debris slammed into the Lorelei, rocking not only the space liner but the much-smaller Argo, as well. Blanche was thrown to the floor.  
He was up again in an instant, watching in terror, waiting for another impact. None came. The rest of the debris field passed by without incident.  
Blanche took a deep breath. He hadn't realized that he was holding it until just now. He tried to get communications up and running again but it looked like the debris field was disrupting it. All he got was static. "Shit."  
He contemplated what to do for a moment, weighed the dangers - Fall was loose on that ship with them and that couldn't have been good - before deciding on a course of action. Not knowing if there was still life support and gravity on the Lorelei after the impact, he darted to the back to get into a suit.  
After that, he would be heading onto the ghost ship

After being thrown to the ground by the impact, Knight looked up. The three of them were in the stairwell, heading up. But, all at once, Knight knew that that was no longer an option. She could hear metal buckling. The stairwell was about to collapse, from the top on down. Right on top of them. "Everybody out!"  
Fall was up at the same moment she was. Grimes a moment later. He looked the most shaken up of all of them.  
"Come on!" Knight urged. "Out of the stairwell!"  
She grabbed hold of Grimes and the three of them headed to the nearest door. Knight could hear the stairwell start to collapse behind them as she just squeezed the three of them through the door.  
They tumbled onto the ground together as they jumped through the door. A stray piece of metal railing came flying through the air, passing over their heads. There was a thundering cacophony behind them as the stairwell collapsed.  
In the tumble, Fall had latched onto Knight, her face buried in the taller woman's shoulder. Knight looked down at the woman - curled up like a scared child - and smiled. She may have been synthetic but she was more human than many that Knight had met.  
Fall realized that she was being watched and she looked up into Knight' face, then looked away. "That was close."  
Knight only nodded. Then she looked where they had ended up. The lights were flickering on and off but it appeared that they were on the Game Deck. Burnt bodies of people dotted the floor. And there were other things, as well. More bodies, burned and long dead.  
Aliens.

After recovering from the sudden jolt of the impact, Keppler kept her eyes up. Valentine, Rank and herself were on the Star Deck and Keppler wanted to make sure that the impact hadn't caused the vast glass of the deck to crack. So far, she couldn't see any sign of that happening, but she didn't want to take any chances.  
It was an extraordinarily beautiful sight. The debris field passed by the Star Deck, between the ship and the gas giant beyond. The planet's vast, orange surface - constantly swirling - was hypnotic as the rocks passed by it.  
Valentine put a hand on Keppler's shoulder and she jumped, engrossed as she was. Valentine looked at her, concerned.  
"Everything all right, captain?" she asked.  
Keppler nodded. "Everything's fine. Wheel house and captain's quarters should be up there." She turned and pointed aft. All of them could see that the deck rose up to meet the glass and, beyond that, was a windowed section rising above every other point of the ship. It had to be the wheel house. Presumably, the captain's quarters lay beyond it.  
They got moving, heading in that direction. They were wearing their helmets again. Keppler had insisted on it, just in case the dome of the Star Deck cracked.  
She had been lying, of course. About everything being fine. Everything most certainly wasn't fine. Comms were down, for one. The open egg, for another. What could have been birthed from such a monstrosity? The answers were limitless.  
She was also filled with a nagging, undefined worry. Something was bothering her. Was it the business with the spy? Surely, that was taken care of. She had identified the spy and dealt with her. And yet...  
Or was it something else? Something about this ship and what had happened here? Every cabin and living space they had come across had been burned out, scraped of all life. What had happened here? She hoped to find answers in the wheel house or the captain's quarters.  
They reached the end of the recreational area of the Star Deck and headed up a flight of utility stairs - SHIP PERSONNEL ONLY, a sign read - to the wheel house. They used Keppler's electronic lock pick to get inside. There was an airlock here which they also passed through. This lead into a hallway stretching back. There were two doors along this hallway: the wheel house and the captain's quarters.  
They didn't spend much time in the wheel house. All of them - Valentine, in particular - were fascinated with the old technology of the control panels and general design but there was little they could do there since the ship's meager power was occupied with life support, gravity and nothing else.  
Keppler took a moment to look out the windshield again, observing the surface of the gas giant and the debris field passing by. It really was beautiful. Part of her wanted to float off into the Void and touch the colorful clouds of that planet. To burn up in its atmosphere.  
She shook it off and they proceeded out of the wheel house and further down the connecting hallway to the captain's quarters. There was no need to use the electronic lock pick here; the door was standing open.  
Keppler led the way in, pushing the door inward. It creaked on its hinges. The lights flickered on and off in here, illuminating a nightmare.  
The cabin wasn't burned - a first, in their experience on the ship so far - but it was clear that something had happened here. There was a large blood stain on the far wall. After a couple hundred years, it was starting to look like an old abstract painting. Something that could hang on the wall of a museum on one of the more cultured worlds.  
It didn't take long for them to find the body. He was mummified by the lack of oxygen and the cold of the Void. He had recently fallen to the ground, when gravity had been restored. Presumably, he had floated like a baby in utero until then. One of his legs had broken off in the fall.  
There was a gunshot wound to his right temple - a small hole - while the opposite side had exploded outward: an exit wound. The gun - a simple pistol - sat nearby. A suicide, then.  
This was the captain. Keppler was sure of it.  
From what she could tell - it was difficult since he was little more than a mummy - he had been a big man, middle-aged, his head bald. He wore a full dress uniform, the kind of thing he would have been wearing during the ceremony when the ship had been launched. It was white and probably looked immaculate before the suicide and the ravages of time.  
Keppler knelt down and put a hand on the shoulder of the dead man. His suit crumbled where she touched him. She could see that this had also happened where he had hit the ground when gravity was restored.  
She stood up and looked around. The cabin was opulent, beautiful. There was a nice bed, a desk and sitting area, a wet bar, a refrigerator. Keppler could see that he had his own, private bathroom. She shook her head. "Man. To live in this time. Sailing into the unknown in luxury like this. Amazing."  
Valentine nodded but Rank made a sour face and shook his head. "Count me out. This place is a death trap. Look what happened to them."  
Keppler shrugged. He had a point.  
Valentine crossed to the wet bar. "Wonder if any of the booze is still good."  
Keppler smiled. "I wouldn't try it, Valentine."  
Valentine nodded and continued to search the cabin. Rank was near the desk. "Captain."  
Keppler turned to him. "What is it?"  
Rank held up an old-fashioned log book. "Found something."  
Keppler joined him, amazed. A log book. Hand-written! It was incredible. She graciously took the log book from Rank and paged through it.  
Valentine was by their side now, as well. "Man, this guy was mega old-school. Respect."  
Keppler found the last entry and read out loud. "'Date Unknown. All hope is lost. I believe that I am the only human left on the ship. Quaid hasn't answered the comm in three days. Surely, the Beast found him. I will not be taken by that THING. I will go out with whatever dignity that I have left.' There's a signature here. 'Captain Arnold Meyer.'"  
Valentine crossed the room to the dead body. She stood over it. "Captain Meyer. What's your story?"  
Keppler looked up from the log book but only briefly. "I intend to find out."  
She turned to the beginning of the book and started to read. The rest of the world was gone in an instant.

"Please remain calm," the image of P.T. Weyland said on every screen on board the station.  
In the main, central hub - the promenade - a bottle of some kind smashed across the large screen that dominated the space. Normally, ads ran on this screen. Most recently, a highly-addictive soda ran micro-ads constantly here. Now, Weyland's face and shoulders appeared fifteen meters high, splattered with some kind of liquid; perhaps it was the same soda that had so recently been advertised here.  
Owen Prince, who ran the diner in the promenade, had locked his doors. He grabbed a few items from behind the cash register - pictures of his parents, money, fake IDs, a handgun - and turned to activate the secret door that led to his own escape pod. He had it installed - under the table, of course - several years ago and, boy, was he glad he had.  
"If you have nothing to hide," Weyland said on the large screen, "then you have nothing to fear. Those who obey orders will be relocated. Undesirables and those who resist will be eliminated with extreme prejudice."  
Someone was knocking on the door to the diner. Prince didn't turn around to see who it was. He knew who it was. Troops. Weyland Yutani troops armed with the most advanced weapons.  
Another knock.  
"This station is forfeit," Weyland said on the large screen.  
Prince waited until the door was open before slipping through. He made his way down the tunnel as fast as he could; which could have been faster, honestly, he had gained some considerable weight in the past few years.  
He couldn't believe it. All of his deals, all of his knowledge. It was all worthless. It meant nothing in moments such as these, when the powers that be rose up and declared martial law. And why? Who the fuck knew? It was far above his pay grade.  
Behind him came the sound of breaking glass. The troops were inside the diner now. He could hear their footfalls as they caught up with him.  
"Stop!" one of the troops yelled. "Comply or you will be fired upon!"  
For a moment, Prince considered stopping. It flashed across his brain. But the escape pod seemed so close. He could see it now, tantalizing. Only meters away.  
He made a run for it. There came the sound of gunfire. The first shot missed him. Prince saw it hit the wall to his right, where it dissipated harmlessly.  
The second shot, however, took him in the back. There was intense pain as he felt his body begin to dissolve. It took only seconds but, to him, it felt like an eternity.  
Organic destroying weapons were used on space stations and ships so as not to damaged hulls. They were the latest thing. Prince had helped a smuggler move a few boxes of them through the station not more than a month ago. And now, one of them was destroying his very flesh and bone.  
His right arm and shoulder burned away first. It looked like bath salts dissolving in water. His flesh and bone simply dripped away.  
His neck came next and he suddenly found that he couldn't breathe. He had reached the escape pod now and actually tried to reach out - with his now non-existent right arm - before collapsing to the ground.  
He could feel the right side of his face begin to melt. Could feel the bone beneath his skin bubble away.  
When it reached his brain, he was gone. Lights out.  
Permanently.

Troops stormed into Turly's massage parlor. The woman raised her hands immediately. She didn't want any trouble.  
They were dressed in tactical green and black. Each of them wearing face shields that looked like robots from an old science-fiction film, only matte black and scary. Surely, they were designed to intimidate rather than serve any practical purpose. One of the troopers took a few steps towards her, his rifle raised. He cocked his head to one side, his whole demeanor suggesting hostility and pure meanness. "What did you say to me?"  
Turly said nothing. And had said nothing at all. She could feel sweat dripping down her forehead.  
The trooper turned to one of his cohorts, chuckled. "Did you hear what this bitch said to me?" The other trooper laughed, too. "I mean, can you fucking believe that? I'd call that resistance, wouldn't you?"  
The other trooper nodded and the first one turned back to regard her. His finger curled around the trigger of his rifle.  
One of the other troopers was listening to his comm, hand held up to one ear. Suddenly, he stepped towards the first trooper, hand raised. "Wait!"  
The first trooper looked at him, annoyed. "What?"  
"This one's not to be touched. Orders from the big man."  
"What?" the first trooped said, clearly disappointed. He lowered his rifle.  
"Not my order. Apparently, she runs spies for the Company through this place."  
Turly said nothing but it was true, of course. She felt relieved.  
The third trooper stepped towards Turly, hand still raised. "Come on. We'll escort you out."  
Turly, eternally grateful, complied. She followed them out, much to the obvious chagrin of the first trooper.  
Her shoes crunched in broken glass as she stepped out of her shop. A one-eyed drug dealer that she knew named Underhill had been forced to his knees nearby. He looked at her as she passed, escorted by the troopers. He shook his head and spit on the ground. Somehow, he knew the score. Knew that she was getting a pass but that he wasn't. A trooper shot Underhill in the back of the head as she passed by. He screamed for a brief moment as his head opened up, split as it was dissolved, his body crumpling to the ground as it burned away.  
There was chaos all about. People ran, screaming. Some were shot mid-run, dissolving away as they fell. The new-fangled weapons didn't entirely get rid of every inch of a person's body, leaving bits and pieces behind. Turly had to step around the half-gone body of a short man who lay motionless on the ground. He lay just outside the little book shop that he had run until the troops had killed him.

Verve and Harvey were busy preparing Verve's rooms for immediate separation. Harvey was running about the office and other rooms as Verve worked at her desk computer - standing not sitting - deleting as much info as she could in the little time they had.  
She turned to Harvey. "How are we coming?"  
Harvey, out of breath, stopped for a moment to answer. "Almost finished. Just gotta lock out the transporter and we'll be ready to go."  
Verve frowned. "Is that necessary?"  
Harvey nodded. "Don't want anyone beaming in all of a sudden."  
Verve nodded, as well. "Right."  
Harvey ran into the transmat room, got halfway across the room and stopped. Verve hardly noticed. She was busy.  
On the transporter pad, three shapes solidified into existence. Harvey rushed forward, intending to cancel the signal mid-transport. He had no idea what that would do to the transportees but he didn't care. They were way past that now.  
In the end, it was moot. He didn't make it in time.  
The three figures formed fully now and stepped off the transporter pad. Harvey saw that it was P.T. Weyland himself, flanked by two WY troopers.  
Harvey raised both of his hands as the two troopers aimed their weapons at him. Weyland smiled as he stepped towards Harvey. He raised a finger to his lips to shush him.  
Verve called from the other room. "Harvey, how we coming in there?"  
Weyland patted the man on the shoulder and passed into Verve's office. He held his hands behind his back. "Oh, we're doing splendid."  
Verve actually jumped at the sound of the man's voice. She regained her composure and turned to regard him, a thin smile on her lips.  
She bowed to him. "Mr. Weyland."  
Weyland mimicked her bow. "Ms. Verve."  
Verve sat down in her chair and motioned for Weyland to sit at one of the guest chairs across from her. Weyland took a turn around the office, much as he had when he had been here holographically. When he had made a complete circle, he sat down in the offered chair.  
Verve observed the two troopers in the transmat room restrain Harvey. She then directed her attention back to Weyland. "Drink?"  
Weyland held up a polite hand. "No, thank you."  
Verve leaned back in her chair and sighed. "So, what do we do now?"  
Weyland got comfortable as well. "We wait."  
"What are we waiting for?" Verve asked.  
"For my contacts. They'll let me know when they've taken whatever specimen they find on that ship right out from under your crew's little noses." He noticed the apple sitting on Verve's desk, grabbed it, gave it a polish on his suit jacket, then took a bite out of it. He spoke after he finished chewing. "Only a matter of time."

Zorn fished for another cigarette, found only the broken remains of one and tossed it away. He and Marlowe had retreated back onto the Star Deck - missing the Argo team by mere minutes - to get their heads straight.  
Marlowe looked up at the vast glass of the Star Deck and watched the debris field float by. He nodded, turned to Zorn. "We know that there are three main stairwells: one at the bow, one aft, and one center ship. If we--"  
Zorn couldn't stand it anymore. "What makes you think either of the others is still standing? Huh? They probably collapsed just like this one. I say we open up an elevator shaft, rappel down to our airlock and get the fuck outta here. Cut our losses."  
Marlowe was silent for a moment. He idly scratched his temple then took a few steps towards Zorn. "Cut our losses?"  
Marlowe was trying to intimidate him but Zorn didn't back down. He stepped towards Marlowe. "Yeah, that's what I said. We're already a man down. This thing is fucked. There's no way that thing died in that fall. It's still out there. And it's gonna want our blood."  
Marlowe looked at Zorn with a blank expression. It was as if he were watching an especially boring newsfeed and wanted to change the channel but didn't have enough interest to fetch the remote. "I'm in command here. I give the orders. Do you understand?"  
Zorn was considerably taller than Marlowe and he loomed over the other man, exploiting his physical prowess. "Does it look like I care about that? I'd rather you kiss my black ass but it's time for you to listen to me. I'm taking that ship and getting outta here. You can either come with me, stay here or die by my hands. Now, do you understand?"  
Marlowe's bored gaze never broke. He stared right back into Zorn's eyes, even if he had to look up to do it. It was infuriating. He clicked his tongue. "You better be careful what you do to me." He raised his wrist and showed off what looked like an old-fashioned watch strapped to it. "See this?"  
Zorn puzzled over the watch. He nodded.  
Marlowe activated the watch and Zorn saw what looked like a pulse flashing across the face of it. Zorn understood right away: it was Marlowe's pulse, which looked normal, slow even, like he wasn't even bothered by the situation at hand. But why? Why did the man have his pulse monitored on his wrist? And what did it have to do with the situation at hand?  
Zorn shrugged. "What, you watching your health? So what?"  
Marlowe kept his face blank. That maddening blank face. "If my heart rate stops - for any reason - then the Lycia is history. You understand? First the cockpit blows, then the engines a moment later. You're not getting out of here without me."  
Zorn turned away from him in frustration, took a few steps away. He cracked his knuckles and turned back. "What makes you think I won't run to them? What if I skip town with the other team?"  
Marlowe - now exerting his own dominance - got in Zorn's face. "You're willing to take that chance, be my guest. But something about you makes me think that you won't. You're a taking orders kinda guy. I can see that." He poked Zorn in the middle of the forehead. "I can see right through you."  
For a moment - just a moment - Zorn considered ripping the man's wrist off, pulling the heart monitor off it and strapping it onto his own wrist. He thought about it. But how did he know that Marlowe hadn't set up a code of some kind? Some kind of reboot when it was removed from his wrist? The answer was that he didn't know, so he didn't act. In the end, he nodded and looked away.  
Marlowe stared at him a moment longer then nodded slowly. "Comms are down but I can still send a coded, written message to Valentine. After that, we check the central stairwell. See if it's intact. If not, then we'll use your elevator idea but not to get to the ship. We're getting that egg back no matter what. Now let's get moving."  
He started towards the center of the Star Deck. Zorn lingered where he was for a moment then followed.

Laeni exited the control room and entered the hallway. He had to get away from it all for a little while. Hastler and Umbray were caught up in the excitement of it all but Laeni was feeling none of it. He hoped he could get a few hours of sleep.  
Rope had been leaning against a wall in the hallway when Laeni came out. Why the sunglasses? Even inside. He came to attention right away, then relaxed once again, as if to say, "Oh, it's only you." Laeni knew the feeling.  
The security officer eyed him behind shaded glasses. "Need anything, Governor?"  
Laeni looked away, distracted in his own thoughts and worries, then back. "Uh. Yes. The coordinator said that rooms were available if we wanted one?"  
Rope nodded then slowly stepped towards the governor. "Of course. Follow me."  
Laeni followed the security officer as the two of them headed down the hallway. They reached a set of stairs and headed up.  
Rope spoke as they walked, not looking at Laeni. "How's it going in there?"  
Laeni scratched his nose. "It's going well. Swimmingly, actually. Tests are proceeding as predicted. A complete success, it seems."  
Rope led them to the top of the staircase. Laeni could see two rooms on this level. Rope led them to one of them, on the left. "That's great news."  
Laeni coughed, stifled a yawn. "Yes, wonderful news, I agree." Rope led him into the room. It was a nice, large room, though not unmanageably so. "But I've had quite the day, as you can imagine."  
Rope nodded and started to head out. "Understood. If you need anything, just--" He stumbled and ran into Laeni on the way out. Nothing major, just a little bump. Laeni frowned but Rope looked at him apologetically. "Oh, I'm sorry. Must be getting tired myself. Do let me know if you need anything."  
Laeni showed the man out. "Of course."  
When he was gone, Laeni let out a long, exhausted sigh. Alone. Alone, once again. It was a good word. A healthy word. He undid his tie and got ready for bed.

Rope stood at the closed door for a moment before heading back down the staircase to his post. He tossed the control device that he had just stolen from Laeni into the air and caught it with a deft hand. He pocketed it and smiled.  
The moron had never even suspected him. None of these idiots were getting out of this manor house alive.

Keppler sat at the desk in the captain's quarters, riveted by the old log book Rank had found. Rank himself was sitting nearby, on the room's bed; Valentine leaning in the doorway. Keppler kept the others up to date on what she was discovering in the book; reading passages out loud sometimes, other times just summarizing.  
Captain Meyer weaved quite a tale. It started out fairly normal. Meyer wrote of the launching of the ship and of making sure that everyone got into their cryochambers alright. Keppler had been amazed to find personal cyrosleep chambers in each of the passenger cabins, sometimes two or three installed in the more expensive suites. The first jaunt of their trip was scheduled to take just over five years.  
The log book picked up a little over three years later, when the ship's computer woke the bridge crew early. It had responded to some kind of strange signal out there in space.  
Meyer and crew investigated and discovered a space craft floating dead among the stars. Its design was utterly unlike anything Meyer had ever seen before.  
In the log book, he had drawn a rough sketch of the ship. To Keppler, it resembled a human leg bone; a lower case letter j without its dot on top. Meyer described it as biomechanical; black in color.  
A party of four boarded the vessel and explored. They found the bodies of aliens. Giants. Mummified, long dead.  
They couldn't access every part of the ship but they were able to find its strange propulsion system. Over a period of weeks, they studied it; found out how to modify their own engines based on what they discovered.  
They recorded as much as they could then left. Their modified engines got them the rest of their way along in no time flat. They woke up their passengers and proceeded with their original plans: fun and frivolity.  
Keppler read out loud from the log book. "'There was no way I could have known. They must have snuck on board while we were investigating the derelict. Those loathsome creatures. Spider-like, but also like hands. With tails. They latched onto the faces of five guests. And, soon, we had five killer aliens on board. Aliens that erupted from the guests' chests.'"  
The aliens hid in the air ducts and in dark corners in hidden away cabins on board. Meyer described how, soon, the aliens had the run of the ship. They installed a sort of Queen in the ballroom and protected her.  
The Queen produced more spider like creatures, which in turn created more aliens. Things got worse and worse. Ship's security was dwindling faster than the guests. The captain and most of his officers hid themselves away from the madness. In the confusion, one of Meyer's crew revved up the engines and took them on another jaunt, parking them way past the Frontier.  
Keppler read another passage. "'I have given the order. I could not carry it out myself and, for that, I am ashamed. I am a coward. I am a failure of a captain. I have not been able to protect those in my charge. The Queen is dead. Killed in an assault that we mounted. But those things - her young - still infest the ship. They had to be stopped. They had to. Harris and what remains of his team down in the engine room have temporarily drained the emergency water tanks and refilled them with accelerant. We intend to remotely trigger the sprinkler systems in all cabins - save my own - and all public areas below deck. After that, a simple remote spark will ignite the fuel, burning through the ship and hopefully killing all the monstrous creatures aboard it. God help us all.'"  
The burn worked quite well, killing off the majority of the aliens on board along with most of the remaining people. It soon became apparent that there was one alien left alive, a monster that Meyer dubbed the Beast. One by one, it tried to take the remaining crew members. All of them fought back and died in the process, leaving Meyer the last man standing.  
Keppler looked at the dead body of the captain lying on the floor nearby. "He decided to cash his chips."  
She looked up at Rank. He was staring at her, completely riveted by the story Keppler had told. He shook his head in disbelief.  
"They must have drifted ever since," Keppler said. "Through the blackness. Until they settled here in orbit around this planet."  
"If Meyer was right," Rank said, "then there's a possibility that this Beast is still here."  
Keppler frowned. "After more than two hundred years?"  
Rank shrugged. "Why not? We don't know anything about these creatures. Maybe."  
Keppler shook her head. "Seems far-fetched. A reach. Valentine, what do you think?"  
She turned to regard Valentine but the woman was nowhere to be found. She turned to Rank. "Where the Hell did she go?"  
Rank stood up from the bed. "Valentine? Babe?"  
Nothing. Keppler tucked the log book under an arm and stood up as well. Valentine must have slipped away sometime when Keppler was telling the story. Both she - Keppler - and Rank had been so involved in Meyer's tale that they hadn't even noticed that Valentine had gone.  
Keppler shook her head. She was angry. Pieces started to fall together in her head. Valentine was always willing to take the night shifts. Alone. She could have been doing anything during those long hours.  
Like a spy.  
"Bitch," Keppler said.

Fall was on her knees near one of the dead, burned aliens, fascinated and horrified with the creature. The tubes or sticks that emerged from the thing's back were mostly burned away but two of them were still standing. Fall still had Grimes' knife and she used it help break away one of the tubes. She held it up, looked through it. It was hollow inside and she could see through it like a telescope. What was it for? What purpose could it serve?  
Knight approached her, looked down at the alien that Fall was studying. "I count twelve of them on this deck."  
Fall put the strange tube down and tucked the knife away in her belt. She looked up at Knight. "And how many people?"  
Knight looked down, not able to hold her gaze. "I stopped counting after thirty."  
Fall nodded, also looking down and away. She stood up. Across the room, Grimes was looking wistfully at a card table. It was burned like everything else in here but around a quarter of it was still covered in that distinctive green felt of a gaming table, a design that hadn't changed in five hundred years.  
A gold chip still sat on the table and Grimes picked it up, held it between two fingers. Fall frowned and approached him. Was he crying? It looked like he was.  
She put a hand on his shoulder and Grimes sniffed, ran a quick hand across his eyes, tossed the chip back onto the table and turned to regard her. He did his best to hide it but his red, puffy eyes gave the game away.  
"What is it?" Fall asked.  
"Nothing," Grimes said. "Stuffy in here. We should check the central staircase. See if it's still standing."  
Fall agreed. They regrouped with Knight and headed in that direction.

Valentine approached the elevator on Star Deck and produced an unfolding crowbar from her belt. She jammed it into the seam in the door and started to pry it open.  
She had indeed slipped away from Rank and Keppler during the boring story that dead Captain Meyer had to tell. She had received Marlowe's message about the alien and the box that must be recovered and decided that she needed to move. Right away.  
Sweat broke out on her forehead but, with a little more effort, she was able to pry the elevator doors open. She pushed them apart till they snapped into place at the edges of the doorframe. The elevator itself was nowhere to be seen. She looked down the empty shaft. It was quite a drop. She looked up at the strong metal cords descending down the entire length of the shaft.  
Using her helmet interface, she changed the magnetic signature of her boots and gloves. She took a few steps back, cracked her knuckles, took a deep breath and ran at full speed at the open elevator shaft.  
She jumped into the empty space and grasped hold of the metal cords. It was touch and go for a moment there - Valentine almost sailed past the cords - but she caught them and held fast.  
The magnets did their job. She was held in place on the wire. Now it was simply a matter of slowly lowering the magnetism of her boots and gloves and sliding gently down the wires.  
She nodded vigorously, psyching herself up. "I can do this. I can do this. Yeah. Yeah!"  
With verbal commands, she lowered the magnetism of her boots and gloves. Slowly, she began to descend. As she got bolder, she lowered them even further, speeding herself up.  
Down into the darkness.

Blanche approached the collapsed bow staircase with caution. When entering the Lorelei, he had become fascinated by the old ship's classic design and of the damage it had sustained at some point long ago. He had passed by the ruined aft stairwell and the damaged-but-intact central stairwell without even noticing them. They were both tucked away, set back behind maintenance areas, while the bow stairwell was clearly once meant to be a showcase of the ship as a whole.  
But those days were gone. Now Blanche could see large pieces of the once-opulent stairs littering the hallway. Beyond it stood the doorway to the stairwell. One door had broken off its hinge, the other swung to and fro. The bottom of the stairwell was a mess, stacked up with collapsed infrastructure as it was. Dust swirled through the air. Blanche could feel the weight of years lingering all about.  
And there was something else. Something in the hallway outside all the debris. Something floating off the ground. Hovering.  
A box.  
Blanche approached it. Yes, a see-through box. With something inside of it.  
As Blanche got closer he could see what it was and gaped in wonder. An alien creature of some kind, spider-like with webbed "fingers" for want of a better word. And a tail.  
It was curled up, almost in a ball, in a corner of the box. The hard plastic of the box was battered and banged up but still held together. A series of green lights ran along the base of it. There was a spark or two from this base and Blanche could see a sizable dent just under one of the lights.  
Blanche looked from the box to the collapsed stairwell. This box must have dropped with the stairwell as it collapsed. It had been damaged in the fall but it was still in working order. It's gravity-defying base had obviously helped it survive.  
A containment box of some kind. Blanche approached the box - and the creature inside - with an awed medical curiosity. The creature was like nothing he had ever seen before. It was a marvel.  
Blanche reached the box and got down on his knees to get a closer look at the alien. "You beauty."  
He smiled. The creature inside seemed to react to his presence. It stirred, its "fingers" clacking against the floor of the box. Suddenly, it moved, opened up and came for him.  
Blanche fell onto his ass in surprise but, of course, the creature was trapped inside and only succeeded in slamming itself into the hard plastic shell of the box. A central orifice of some kind was visible and a fleshy tube extended from this hole, slithered and tried to get at Blanche.  
Blanche chuckled and shook his head in disbelief. He stood up and put a hand to his chin. Obviously, the box could be controlled somehow. Perhaps he could modify his personal interface to get it moving, to follow him.  
He had forgotten about the possible danger that Fall posed to his crew-mates. The only thing occupying his mind was the thing in the box. And how it could be his.  
But even this thought left his mind when he heard something moving nearby. He looked up at the doorway of the collapsed stairwell as a piece of ruined staircase fell to one side.  
Surely that was just the debris shifting. Entropy doing its job.  
He convinced himself of the truth of this thought for all of about two seconds. Then something else happened that changed everything.  
One of the standing pieces of staircase started to burn. Melt. A big hole began to form in the center of it, about two meters off the ground.  
Blanche frowned. It looked like it had burned from the inside out. What was happening?  
Soon, another section of the collapsed staircase fell down with a crash. Now Blanche could see something that had been behind the fallen piece. Something tall and black. Utterly alien.  
It was hurt and bleeding a sickly yellow liquid that burned everything around it. But it was still alive. Still moving.  
Slowly, it stepped out of the debris. There were several cracks in its domed head where that burning blood oozed. It saw him and its lips pulled back to reveal a set of sharp, metal teeth.  
Blanche turned and started to run.  
Instantly, he tripped on a piece of fallen staircase railing and went down, his nose hitting the floor with a crack. There was a blinding flash of light and an uppercut of pain. Blanche turned onto his back to see if the alien was closer.  
It was.

Some meters ahead of where Blanche had been trying to run, the doors to an elevator shaft were pried open from the inside. Valentine emerged from the shaft and stepped into the hallway. She was covered in sweat from the descent down but didn't have time to rest. She saw the situation unfolding in the hallway and reacted instantly.  
Blanche, his nose and half his face covered in blood, rolled onto his hands and knees and tried to launch himself away from the Beast as it came for him but he wasn't fast enough. The Beast pounced on him, grabbing hold of his right leg.  
Blanche screamed out in pain as the Beast's burning blood dripping from its hand sizzled his flesh. He saw Valentine and held a hand out to her. "Help me!"  
Valentine did nothing of the sort. She raised her wrist and quickly keyed a sequence into her interface. There was a satisfying beep and the box was now under her control. She yanked it towards her and it sped along the hallway in her direction.  
The Beast crept along Blanche's body and grabbed hold of his face with both hands and pulled him up. There was a sickening crunch as Blanche's spine snapped under the ferocity of the attack.  
Alien blood dripped onto Blanche's head. The flesh of his face began to sizzle, his eyes bugged out of his head. But he couldn't scream. The Beast had one hand wrapped around his mouth.  
It lowered its head to the base of Blanche's skull and opened its mouth. Its inner jaw shot out like a bullet and tore into the man's neck. Valentine could see it emerge from the front in a burst of blood and gore.  
Then, with a mighty yank, the Beast tore Blanche's head off, leaving a flowing fountain of blood spurting from a stump of a neck. The creature tossed the head away. It hit the swinging door of the stairwell, leaving a bloody mark. Then it bounced off another wall and hit the floor, rolling away.  
The Beast looked at Valentine, saw the rapidly moving box and screeched in anger. It let go of Blanche's body, which slumped to the ground in a heap. But Valentine was already moving, running down the hallway towards the aft of the ship and the airlock.  
Towards the Argo.

Knight, Fall and Grimes had just entered the central stairwell and, finding it still intact, were about to head upstairs when they nearly ran into Marlowe and Zorn. They turned a corner on a landing suddenly were confronted with two strangers.  
The landing on which they met was bent, pushed out of shape by the impact of the debris field. Almost all of the railings around them were splintered, busted. To Knight, it looked like a briar-patch, all thorns and pain.  
Marlowe already had his rifle ready, pointed right in Grimes' face. Zorn raised a pistol a moment later, his aim moving from Fall to Knight.  
To Knight, Zorn looked nervous, off-put. His eyes kept darting between the three of them. "Freeze! Don't move."  
Marlowe said nothing, his rifle doing the talking for him. His face was blank, expressionless. Knight and Fall raised their hands. Grimes smiled and shook his head and raised his hands a moment later. "Man, this keeps getting better and fucking better, doesn't it?"  
Zorn looked to Marlowe. "Any of these people your spy?"  
Marlowe kept his eye on Grimes. "No."  
Grimes laughed. "Oh, you know about the spy, do you? Un-fucking-believable. You happy, Knight? Fall isn't the goddamn spy." He spit on the ground in the direction of Marlowe. "Can I ask who the spy is? That okay?"  
Marlowe was silent for a moment. His mouth twitched. "Alright. Valentine. That's your spy. Happy?"  
Grimes was still shaking his head. He seemed manic, pissed. Knight couldn't agree more but she stayed quiet and still.  
"Fucking Valentine," Grimes said. "Shoulda known. She dead? Please tell me that she's dead."  
Marlowe's mouth twitched again. Then the thinnest of smiles broke across his face. Zorn looked shocked.  
"She's very much alive, my friend," Marlowe said. "Which is a position you're unlikely to be in after another second or two."  
Zorn was looking at Marlowe, his pistol beginning to drop. Knight shared a glance with Grimes. He looked like he was ready to explode. Then she kept her eye on Zorn's gun. Zorn was focused on his captain. "Hey, let's calm down. There's a fucking alien out there killing us. I think maybe we need to work together. Captain?"  
That thin smile was just about the worst thing Knight had ever seen. Marlowe shook his head. "We're not working with anyone. These people are in our way. They are a problem. And we deal with problems."  
Knight saw sweat starting to bead on Zorn's forehead and could feel a drop or two on her own forehead. This situation was about to go sideways.  
Zorn's pistol was almost pointed to the floor now. "Safety in numbers. Ain't that the saying? I mean, we could use their help."  
Knight heard a faint beeping noise and took a quick glance down at her wrist interface. Something was about to happen.  
The smile was suddenly gone from Marlowe's face. "Zorn, if you say another word, you'll be lying dead right beside these people. Now shoot that woman."  
Zorn looked at Knight, then at Fall. "Which one?"  
Marlowe's gaze flicked to the two women, momentarily judging each of them. "There's something about the dark one's eyes." A pause. "So I'd go with her."  
Several things happened at the same moment. The probe that Knight had sent off on its mission came flying down the stairwell, having completed its task and returning to its mistress. It flew right past Zorn's head. The man jumped and Knight caught the probe and ran right into him, slamming the device into the man's face. Grimes moved with such force, such sudden ferocity, at Marlowe. Fall dropped to her hands and knees and shot between Zorn's legs.  
Marlowe fired at Grimes but the engineer had already ducked under the rifle. The shot went wild, hitting a wall of the stairwell. Grimes came up with a powerful uppercut that connected with Marlowe's chin.  
Knight knocked the pistol out of Zorn's hand and elbowed him in the stomach. Fall popped up behind the man and jumped on his back, wrapping her legs around his midsection and an arm around his neck.  
Marlowe kicked out at Grimes, connecting with the man's shin. Grimes looked like he was hurt but that didn't stop him. He jumped up and slammed an elbow into Marlowe's left shoulder. That was enough to loosen the man's grip on his rifle and Grimes grabbed it.  
For a moment, they fought for the weapon. Grimes was actually growling, his face a mask of pure rage.  
Zorn was fighting to take a breath and Knight punched him in the stomach again. His mouth dropped open in a shocked O.  
Grimes let go of the rifle and started landing punch after punch into Marlowe's face. Blood came flying out of Marlowe's mouth, spattering onto the grey of the stairs below. Another punch connected with the man's nose and there was a meaty crunch. He dropped the rifle and fell to his knees.  
Grimes grabbed the rifle and pointed it at the top of the man's head. Zorn was frantically slapping Fall's left leg and trying to talk.  
Knight frowned. "Let go of him, Fall. I've got him."  
Grimes made sure the rifle was ready to fire. His mouth curled into a cruel smile.  
Fall let go of Zorn but didn't get off his back. Zorn began to cough, then screamed. "Don't kill him!"  
But it was too late. Grimes spoke at the same moment. "Bye bye, motherfucker."  
And pulled the trigger.  
The top of Marlowe's head burst apart, instantly beginning to dissolve from the organic-destroying rifle. The captain screamed in horrible pain for a few seconds, then his brain was gone, the top half of his head melting away. His jaw flapped mindlessly, opened and closed before it, too, melted away.  
His body fell against the stairs, still eroding rapidly before them. One of his arms was outstretched and Knight could see what looked like a black wristwatch strapped there.  
She frowned. The device beeped rapidly for a moment and Knight could see a pulse on the interface of it. Then a flat line accompanied by a high, despairing tone.  
Zorn coughed a few more times and went for the wristwatch, frantically. He had trouble removing it and shook his head. "Oh, shit. Oh, fuck."  
Knight grabbed him with both hands. "What?! What does that mean?!"  
Zorn looked at her. "We're fucked."


	9. Chapter 9

Keppler and Rank passed through the airlock and onto the Star Deck the moment that the Lycia's cockpit exploded. The two of them were jostled in place, knocked against a wall. Keppler looked at Rank. "What was that?"  
Rank looked about and gave a panicked shrug. Keppler also looked around. Soon, she zeroed in on movement near the bow of the ship. Through the massive glass of the Star Deck, she could see a small ship rising into view. It had docked with the Lorelei, its umbilicus still attached.  
Keppler could see that the ship had been damaged. An explosion in the cockpit. As it rose up, it tore away from its umbilicus. It danced, spun, as it climbed, rising over the glass of the Star Deck.  
It was a thing of terrible beauty. A dance of death.  
It made one final turn before its engines exploded. There was a mighty outrush of flame and debris which was almost immediately pulled back in by the vacuum, consumed by the Void. The Lorelei shook from the blast and Keppler and Rank were knocked against the wall once more.  
Keppler unfolded herself from the fall and looked up in terror. As she watched, the glass of the Star Deck began to crack.  
One long - massive - crack began to grow across its surface. Keppler turned to Rank. "Helmets! Grab onto something!"  
The both of them slapped their sides and their helmets unfolded and covered their heads. Rank jumped back into the still-open airlock, activated his magnetic boots and wrapped a foot around a pipe embedded in one of its walls. Keppler jumped towards him. She knew that the magnetic boots were not enough to keep her from being pulled away by the sudden fury of the vacuum.  
In mid-jump, the vast, glass dome of the Star Deck shattered. There was a deafening sound as millions of shards of glass suddenly broke free. Then the Void ate them.  
This was followed by a rush of oxygen being pulled out of the Lorelei. Keppler found herself being pulled away, as well. She was about to be thrown into the Void when Rank grabbed hold of her left hand.  
They looked at each other, frantic, stretched out: Rank's foot caught in the pipe, pulling hard; arms extended as far as possible; Keppler a straight line from the tips of her left hand to the points of her toes.  
There came the sound of an alarm coming from the airlock and it began to close, threatening to cut off Rank's legs at the knees and sending them both tumbling into the Void.  
Rank shot a glance at the closing doors and used every last inch of his strength to pull Keppler in. They almost didn't make it. Rank managed to get Keppler inside just as the emergency airlock doors shut behind her, nearly snipping off her feet in the process.  
The two of them lay on the ground of the airlock, completely exhausted. Death had been so close that they could feel it nipping at their ankles.

The central stairwell exited onto the Star Deck and, although there were closed doors between Knight, Fall, Grimes and Zorn, they were still briefly exposed to the vacuum. All four of them, alongside what remained of Marlowe, were tossed up into the air. Marlowe's body was complete below the waist but above it, only his right arm and part of his torso remained, torn diagonally like a discarded piece of paper. It slammed against an upper landing of the stairwell, bounced and continued upwards.  
Knight was also slammed into the upper landing but managed to wrap an arm around a railing and hold herself in place. Zorn did the same.  
Fall was not so lucky. She hit the landing above back first and flipped up, pulled by the vacuum. All four of them were a bit shredded by the bent and broken railing.  
Grimes got it the worst. He hit the landing right arm first. The rifle he was holding was instantly smashed to pieces. There was a crunch as his arm also broke. He tumbled up, spinning, and his foot caught the railing. Another snap as his ankle broke.  
Then, all at once, the emergency doors on the Star Deck above closed shut. Gravity was restored and all of them came crashing back down.  
Knight and Zorn, the only ones left on the original landing that they all had previously been standing on, looked at each other. Both of their pressure suits were ruined, torn up in the chaos. Knight's abs were showing through the green of her jumpsuit and a whole sleeve of Zorn's - the right - was simply gone. From above them, they could hear Grimes crying out in pain. Nothing from Fall.  
Knight was up first. "Fall! Grimes, hold on. We'll be right up." She looked at Zorn, who was now also on his feet. She approached him, grabbed hold of his shoulder once again. "Are you gonna be a problem?"  
Zorn - out of breath, banged up, exhausted - shook his head. "You don't have to worry about me. You're my only way outta here."  
Knight nodded. "Okay."  
She let go of him and the two of them headed up. They found Grimes lying across the stairs two flights up. He wasn't moving but was softly whimpering.  
Knight knelt down briefly beside Grimes. "Where are you hurt?"  
Grimes sucked in a pained breath, then nodded and spoke. "My arm. My ankle."  
Knight nodded and stood up, looked at Zorn. "Watch him. I'll be back. Gotta find Fall."  
Zorn nodded. "Right."  
Knight headed up another flight of stairs and found Fall flat on her back, eyes closed, mouth open. There was a small puddle of milky white blood about her head. She was still.  
Knight was beside her in an instant. Fall wasn't breathing. But that was not necessarily a problem, since she didn't have to breathe. "Fall. Fall, are you alive?"  
She gently slapped the woman on the cheek. Nothing. Knight sighed, looked up and saw Marlowe's body crumpled up in a corner of the landing. She frowned. Steeled herself.  
She grabbed hold of Fall under each armpit and pulled her up into a sitting position. She could see that Fall was bleeding from the back of her head. She shook the woman. "Wake up!" She slapped her across the face. "Come on! Reboot! Do whatever it is you do but wake up!"  
Another slap. Hard. Fall's eyes fluttered open. Her mouth shut and a thin line of white blood flowed from it. Her eyes seemed to focus and she found Knight. Smiled. "Knight."  
Knight smiled, too. "You're alive. Thank fucking Christ. Look, stay here, I'm going to go take care of Grimes then I'll be back."  
Fall nodded. "Right. Right back."  
Knight narrowed her eyes. "You okay?"  
Fall continued to nod. "A-okay."  
Knight wasn't so sure but she let go of the other woman and, when Fall didn't topple over, she headed down a flight of stairs to Grimes. Zorn was by his side. Knight retrieved her emergency med kit from her belt and knelt down next to Grimes.  
Grimes managed to grab hold of her with his one good arm. "Fall okay?"  
Knight nodded. "I think so, yeah. She's not, you know, human. So it's hard to tell."  
Grimes let go of her, relaxed a bit. But there was still a lot of pain evident in his voice. "Probably rebooted herself."  
Knight ran the medical scanner across Grimes' injuries. The device was no bigger than the palm of her hand and it did its job fast, identifying his wounds. When finished, Knight consulted the readout and nodded. She punched a sequence into the device and held it near Grimes' broken arm and, afterwards, his broken ankle. The device would numb and set his breaks but it was a temporary fix. He would need serious medical attention whenever they could provide it.  
Above them, Fall slowly descended the steps to their landing, an unsure but strong arm on the railing at all times. "Anything I can do to help?"  
Knight looked up at her. "I told you stay up there. Are you okay?"  
Fall finished her descent. "I'm fine. How's he?"  
Knight sighed. "He's got a broken arm. Ankle. Some bruising. He'll live but he needs a doctor."  
Fall nodded. "Blanche should still be on Argo. He can help."  
Fall looked at Zorn. He returned the gaze. Grimes was also looking at the man.  
"Don't worry about me," Zorn said. "You all seem a tad more friendly then my last crew, even with the punch to the gut. What you need to worry about is the fucking killer alien loose on this ship."  
Knight agreed. "We have to get moving. I've set Grimes' injuries. And he's numb so he won't be in any pain but he's gonna be slow. We have to help him."  
Fall nodded. Zorn stood up. "Right. I'm Zorn, by the way. You are?"  
They all introduced themselves. Knight looked wistfully at the shattered rifle. Zorn had a couple of weapons but this would have been helpful. She squatted down and swept aside pieces of it, found a few of the organic destroying shells and pocketed them. You never knew. After that, she and Zorn got Grimes on his feet. They got moving.

Valentine was knocked against a wall when the Lycia exploded but she didn't topple over. The bow stairwell didn't lead onto the Star Deck so it was sealed. The box was slammed against a wall but appeared to be intact. Valentine ran as fast as she could - the box keeping pace with her the entire time - towards the airlock and the umbilicus of the Argo. The Beast was behind her. More than a few meters back - taking its time - but it was there. She could sense it.  
The hallway seemed to stretch out ahead of her like some kind of nightmare. But the end was close. She knew that it was only a few meters ahead and to the right.  
She reached the end of the burned out crew cabins and headed into the airlock, which was standing open. The box was right behind her. She turned and saw the Beast coming for her, the box almost inside the airlock.  
She unslung her pulse rifle, took aim and fired at the Beast. It was quick and, after the first two shots hit it in the side, it was out of the way, screeching and rolling about. Its horrible yellow blood splattered to the floor and started to burn through it. Valentine was fairly certain that it wouldn't penetrate the incredibly thick hull entirely but she also didn't care. She was getting out of here.  
The box cleared the airlock door and Valentine slammed it shut. She ran down the umbilicus and into the ship, sealing the Argo's airlock behind her.  
A quick search revealed that she was alone. None of the others had returned. She intended to leave them all behind, along with Marlowe and Zorn.  
She raced to the cockpit, parked the box in a corner of the room and leaned her pulse rifle against her chosen chair. She jumped into the pilot's seat and started the undocking procedure, retracting the umbilicus. She smiled. She would be sharing the profits with no one. It was beautiful.  
Behind her, unnoticed, one of the green lights along the bottom of the box began to flash red for a moment. Then it was green once again. A spark lit up near it and it began to flash again.

Rope's team were all currently in the forward security center of the house, right off the entryway. There were six of them. Three of them were playing cards, two of them were watching a game on a monitor - pre-recorded, of course - and one was lying back in a chair in the corner, asleep.  
Rope leaned in the doorway of the room, arms folded across his chest. He shook his head. "Having fun, lads?"  
The five of them that were awake turned to regard him. None of them got up. As intimidating as he looked, Rope was fairly lenient with his team. He let them get away with an awful lot so they regarded him casually, smiling. Rope smiled back.  
"Ey, El Cappo," one of the card players said followed by a salute. The rest just nodded.  
Rope stepped into the room. Unlike the control room that Hastler and Umbray occupied, the security room didn't have a wet bar, nor comfortable seating. It was a plain white, utilitarian room which was clean but starting to look a little rundown, like everything in Hastler's little hamlet, if not the entire planet.  
He crossed to the security monitors - there were far fewer of them than in Hastler's control center. "All quiet on the Western Front?"  
One of the men watching the game spoke up, still watching his match, not looking at Rope. "If by that you mean are there any killer aliens around, then yeah, there have been. But they ain't gettin in here. So, sure. Quiet."  
Rope nodded, clapped the man on the shoulder. "How's the game?" He wasn't really interested but it was good to keep them off their guard, as distracted as possible.  
The man, still engrossed in the game, spoke in short, clipped sentences. "Good. Up by three. Don't know if we can hold out. Tough."  
Rope clapped the man on the shoulder a few more times and started to leave the room. Just as he was about to leave, the sleeping man suddenly spoke to him. "Everything alright, sir?"  
Rope slowly turned to regard him. He kept his face slack, calm, as he spoke. "Everything's fine. We'll probably be leaving in the morning."  
The formerly-sleeping man looked relieved. "Good. Because, to be honest with you, this all gives me the creeps."  
Rope looked at the man for a moment. So young. "It'll all be over soon."  
With that, he left the room, heading into the entryway. He brought up his portable interface and checked the feed from the drones circling the valley. It was easy enough to hijack one of them. Trickier was looping the footage to fool Hastler and Umbray but he had that accomplished in mere minutes, as well. The two of them weren't as smart as they looked.  
Synadrone Systems was paying him to not only deliver but make sure that Weyland Yutani's plans here were utterly destroyed. So he was going to do just that.  
When he had made sure that the drone he had secured was ready, he spent some time flying it around, locating hunting aliens. When he found them, he used the control device that he had stolen from Laeni to make them part of his army.  
He smiled as the plan came together. He would unlock the airlock. After that, it would be easy to shut off the security monitors - none of his team were paying any attention, anyway - and let the creatures inside the house. And they would be under his control.  
It would be beautiful.

Knight, Fall, Grimes and Zorn retreated to the ballroom. Above them was only burnt cabins and the Star Deck, which was now inaccessible to them what with their pressure suits being ruined.  
They just about collapsed to the floor when they reached the large space. Knight put her hands on her knees and lowered her head in exhaustion. Zorn had informed them what he knew, which wasn't a whole lot but every bit helped. It had been a bad day, to say the least.  
Knight saw a few red sticks on the ground near her. She narrowed her eyes. What were those? After a moment, she had it: they were flares. The light on her suit had broken in the stairwell. She shrugged and collected them.  
She looked up at one of the few portholes on the interior of the ship, on the starboard side. It was small but she approached it, stepping around destroyed eggs. She wiped ancient ash off the porthole and broke away crumbling resin and looked out.  
The debris field had passed. Now she could only see the vast gas giant. On a hunch, she checked the comms. "Captain, can you hear me?"  
For a moment, there was only static, then - pushing through it - a voice. "Knight! Thank fucking Christ! Comms are back up. Can you hear me?"  
Knight smiled a small, sad smile. "Loud and clear, captain. Is Valentine with you?"  
Knight could hear the anger in Keppler's voice as she answered. "No. That bitch cut out on Rank and I. I think she's our spy."  
Knight nodded. "I can confirm that, captain. We ran into a couple of pirates here. One of em is dead but the other is with us. The dead one told us she was the spy." A pause. "Not Fall."  
Keppler was silent for a moment. Then a sigh. "I'm sorry. Fall, if you're listening, I'm sorry. I overreacted."  
Knight turned to regard Fall across the room. She was sitting on the ground next to the other two but she was listening, all right.  
She sighed, as well. "It's alright, captain. I wasn't totally honest with you. And I understand."  
Knight spoke up. "Is Rank okay?"  
Rank chimed in. "I'm here, Knight. I'm okay."  
Keppler spoke. "Everyone sound off. Grimes?"  
Grimes was flat on his back across the room but he answered. "I'm here, captain. Hurt but I'm alive."  
"Good," Keppler said. "Blanche?" A long pause. "Blanche?"  
Then another voice emerged from the Void. It led with a laugh. "Oh, you are all so cute! Man, I'm gonna miss you."  
Knight hit her fist against the wall next to the porthole. "Valentine."  
"It's me, babe," Valentine said. "Alive and well. Which is more than I can say for Blanche."  
"You killed him," Keppler said.  
"Me?!" Valentine said. "I would never. No, he was killed by a tall, dark and relatively handsome monster on the Lorelei."  
"And you're not on the Lorelei?" Keppler asked.  
Another laugh. "No, I'm outta here. On the Argo and cleared docking. Ready to head out."  
"Valentine, you bitch!" Keppler said. "That's my ship!"  
"Finders keepers, captain," Valentine said. "I'm gonna be playing my music real loud and running around this place naked. Maybe. Haven't decided yet."  
"Valentine," Keppler said, "you turn that ship around and dock with us. That's an order. You hear me?!"  
Valentine laughed again. "Captain, you sound so cute when you're angry. I'll be hanging up now but I just wanted to say goodbye to all of you. Especially you, Rank. You're a sweetie."  
"Fuck you," Rank said.  
Grimes laughed.  
"Naughty, naughty," Valentine said. "Anyway, have fun living the rest of your short lives in fear as you're hunted down by that monster. I'm out."  
Keppler sighed once again. "Grimes, Knight? You think that you can get this ship running again?"  
Knight turned away from the porthole and looked at Grimes. He pushed himself up onto his elbows and nodded at her. Knight nodded back. "We think we can, captain."  
"Good," Keppler said. "I want that done. Rank and I tried to access the elevator on this level but it was bent out of shape, probably when the pirate ship exploded. We can't open it. We thought about space walking out on the Star Deck and heading to the central stairwell but I don't like it. If you can get the ship up and running, we can access the wheel house."  
Knight punched her fist against the wall, gently this time, again and again. "We've got bigger problems. Valentine was right about this monster. Zorn-- he's the pirate that's with us now. Zorn says that it killed one of his crew. That it was after some kind of smaller, spider-like creature. And if Valentine has it, which I think she does, then that Beast is gonna be angry. It's gonna be after us."  
"What do you have in mind, Knight?" Keppler said.  
Knight turned and looked at the others, zeroed in on Fall. "I have a plan but none of us is going to like it."  
"Tell me," Keppler said.  
Knight did.

Laeni stirred, frowned, tired to drift back to sleep and failed. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes. What he saw was a nightmare.  
Had to be. There was no way that what he was seeing was really there, standing over him by the bed, leering at him.  
It was one of them. An alien. Tall and brown/black. Glistening with saliva like fluid. Laeni could see its tail thrashing behind it. The end of it appeared to have a sharp fin. The creature swayed, shifting its balance from one foot to the other.  
It must be a dream! How could it have gotten into the house? It was impossible. Still, Laeni felt fear course through his body.  
The creature leaned over him and its saliva dripped onto his face. Laeni was shocked at the sudden cold of the droplets. That felt real enough and panic began to set in. All of this was really happening. Somehow, this creature had gotten into the house. It was here!  
The creature's lips pulled back to reveal its metal teeth. More saliva. The thing's head shook in anticipation of the kill.  
Finally, Laeni opened his mouth to scream. Only the sharp beginnings of the wail got out. The creature opened its own mouth and its second, lethal set of jaws shot out from the inside.  
The strike landed right in Laeni's open, gaping mouth. There was a surge of pain as Laeni's tongue was instantly snatched from him, torn away. A spray of blood spattered the alien's face and Laeni began to choke. Blood filled his mouth.  
He opened and closed his mouth silently, blood cascading from it. The alien struck again. There was a sickening crunch as Laeni's jaw snapped in half, falling to either side.  
Laeni didn't think such pain was even possible. His head was pounding, his heart beating what seemed like thousands of times per second.  
The alien struck a third and final time. The inner jaw hit Laeni in the face, right under his nose and above his upper jaw. Another wet crunch as Laeni's head collapsed in on itself.  
Laeni lived for another few agonizing seconds before it was over. He had just enough time to think, "What went wrong?" then he was still.

Rope smiled to himself as he watched the security feed of Laeni's bedroom. It was the simple things in life that made him happy. Like watching a despised colleague die in an extremely horrible way. It was moments like these that made life worth living.  
He had given the aliens a simple order after he let them in through the airlock around back: KILL. He wanted them to get creative and this was a good start.  
He sighed. Now it was time to take care of his security team. This would be fun.

One of the card players - Everly was his name - heard the door to the security room open but didn't look up. None of them did. It was just Rope, coming to check on things again. It was never anything serious. How could it be? This place was a fortress.  
Everly must not have been a student of history. Fortresses were made to be invaded.  
He was facing the wall of monitors and the two men watching the game on the biggest of the screens. They were engrossed in the match.  
Something crept into view, something tall and brownish black. It led with its tail - which ended in a razored fin - raised high up in the air. Before Everly could react, the razored tail came down in a mighty strike.  
It first went straight through the man on the left's head, entering his left temple and exiting on his right side at his neck. This effectively cut the man's head in half down the middle. Before the wound even had time to bleed, the tail continued forward, forcing the man's head to split apart - now the blood came, erupting into the air like a fountain and drenching the monitors in gore - and struck the second man in the left shoulder, just below his neck. It exited him just under his right armpit.  
The second man screamed and the rest of them were on their feet, finally alert. Everly pulled his sidearm, righted his stance and took careful aim, fired four shots into the creature, center mass.  
It reared back as it took the hits. Sickly yellow blood splashed onto the monitors. There was a shower of sparks as the monitors sizzled and melted from the blood. As the alien moved, its tail was wrenched from the body of the second man, tearing him further open. He whirled in his chair. His face went slack and he collapsed to the floor, dead.  
There were just four of them left now and Everly heard one of his colleagues shout in alarm. He looked over and saw that there were more of the creatures - two more - bounding into the room. The security officer who had been sleeping in a lone chair in the room was awake and alert now. He leveled his shotgun at one of the creatures and fired.  
The front of the creature's elongated head blew apart. Another shot took out the rest of its head. The sleeping man smiled. But not for long.  
The headless alien jerked and stuttered about like a decapitated chicken, stupidly flying about. Its headless stump of a neck sprayed yellow, acid blood all about. A healthy dose of the stuff splashed across the sleeping man's face and he began to scream as his head started to melt away.  
Everly didn't have time to react. He had to fight. Had to live.  
The second alien that had come bounding into the room pounced on one of the other card players. The man went down instantly as the alien clawed at his chest, tearing it open. Ribs cracked and organs spilled out. The man screamed as he was rent apart.  
Everly and the other standing man concentrated fire upon this second alien. Their fire took it apart. Its blood burned into man it was attacking but it didn't matter: he was already gone.  
Behind it, the sleeping man was on the ground, writhing in pain, holding his face. It sizzled and, behind the man's hands, Everly could actually see exposed bone, which was itself burning away. The man must have been in extraordinary pain.  
Everly took aim and shot the man three times in the chest. He stopped moving.  
Everly was grabbed from behind and thrown into the wall of monitors. The first alien - the one who had killed the two sports fans - was still alive, even after all the shots that Everly had put into it.  
He crashed into the monitors and fell to the floor. He could feel pain throughout his body as shards of glass pierced his flesh.  
The alien swept out with its tail at the last man standing. The mighty blow instantly severed the man's feet at the ankles, sending him tumbling to the floor screaming.  
The alien leaned over, hissing in rage and grabbed the man by the head. The man screamed and grabbed hold of the alien's hands, trying to make it let go but it was no good. The creature was far stronger than he was.  
There came the wet cracking sounds of the man's skull beginning to shatter. It was the worst thing Everly had ever heard in his life.  
His colleague was screaming louder than ever as the crunching continued. Then there was a wet squelch as the man's skull collapsed. His hands went limp. All that was left in the alien's hands were wet chunks of flesh and skull. Nothing that resembled a human being anymore.  
It let go of the man's body and turned towards Everly, smiling. The fucking thing was smiling!  
Everly raised his pistol. It seemed to take all the energy he had left in him. The alien approached slowly, taking its time. Everly took careful aim and pulled the trigger.  
Click.  
The pistol was empty. Everly started to whimper in fear and pain as the alien approached. It lifted its long, nightmarish arms towards him. Reaching out.  
Everly blubbered, tears and snot running down his face. He raised the empty pistol to his temple - incoherent - and pulled the trigger again and again.  
Click, click, click. Click.  
As the alien closed in, its fingertips dancing on Everly's skin, the man began to scream. All at once he was a child again. A child afraid of the dark.  
And what was in the dark.

The cigar dropped from Hastler's lips and fell to the floor as he and Umbray heard the screaming. The gunfire. It sounded like chaos out there.  
Umbray took a step towards the door. "What the Hell?"  
Hastler overtook her, put out a warning hand. "Don't leave this room."  
Umbray nodded. Hastler pulled out his control device and punched in a few numbers. "My device also controls the security protocols in this room. A mere precaution that appears to have been warranted."  
A thick metal security door closed across the ornate wooden door of the room. Hastler nodded, satisfied and turned to the wall of monitors. He waved his hand in the air in a specific gesture. Frowned as nothing happened. Repeated the gesture, slower this time.  
He took a step towards the monitors, drink still in hand. "Son of a bitch." He turned to Umbary. "Son of a bitch whore! The bastard's cut me out of the system."  
Umbray's hands were shaking in fear. "Who?! Who cut you out?"  
Hastler closed his eyes, dropped his head, rested the control device on the bridge of his nose. He whispered. "Rope."  
Umbray stepped towards him. "What?"  
Hastler opened his eyes and screamed in her face. "Rope!"  
He pushed her and she went down instantly. He turned back towards the wall of monitors and threw his drink at them. The glass smashed into one of them, smashing it to pieces. "The son of a whore has betrayed me!"

Knight was by herself. In order to enact her plan, it had to be this way. Grimes was hurt and found it hard to get around. Fall, of course, had to stay in place. That left Zorn and herself to try to retrieve weapons from the security station several decks below. After some deliberation, Knight insisted that she was the one for this mission. She was smaller than Zorn, faster, more maneuverable. Most importantly, she could fit into the air ducts easier than he could.  
So she found herself alone in a hallway outside the ballroom. The lights flickered above her as she made a few modifications to her personal control screen. Soon, she was satisfied and approached a small, nondescript area along one wall of the hallway. Most people passing by wouldn't have noticed it at all but when your job was rewiring old ships, you learned to spot them with ease.  
Knight punched a code into her device and the small entrance to the air ducts opened up into a circular entrance. She nodded and punched in another sequence. This activated a motion tracker on her device. She wasn't stupid and knew that the Beast may also be using the air ducts to get around. It may have been big but it could squeeze into small spaces with ease, she had no doubt about that. It was tall but lean and thin. Like a snake.  
Currently the motion tracker showed nothing but herself. She nodded and strapped the device to her belt. She had set it to sound whenever a moving object was near, so she could listen for it in an emergency.  
She got down on her hands and knees and crept into the air duct. The opening closed behind her. She looked ahead at the long, dark passage and shook her head. Got moving.  
Keppler had informed them all of what she had learned from the log book of the former captain of the Lorelei and it had been quite a story. All of them had been held spellbound by the tale, even the condensed version that Keppler had told.  
They had discussed several possibilities for getting back to Aurora, or at least Tosh. But the Beast had to be dealt with first. They couldn't get anything done safely with that thing still on board. They had to get rid of it.  
Hence, Knight' plan. Everyone had scoffed at her idea except Fall, which was surprising, considering her role in it. But when Knight asked if anyone had any better suggestions, they had all been silent. It was a longshot but it might just work.  
Still, everyone agreed that it would be safer if they had some heavy-duty firepower. Zorn had a rifle and a pistol. He gave the pistol to Grimes and kept the rifle for himself. Still, Keppler had told them of the pulse rifles in the security center and everyone's eyes lit up.  
So here she was. She considered even this part of the plan a long shot but she had to try.  
Soon it was too dark in the air ducts to see anything. Knight pulled out one of the flares that she had found. She had given a couple to the others but kept three for herself. She would need them.  
She snapped the top off and struck it against the tip of the shaft. The flare came to life at once, filling the small space with a harsh, burning red light. The magnesium in the hand flare stung her eyes and she winced but kept moving.  
It was slow going. She had a fairly good idea of where she was going but being in the dark, small tunnels of the air ducts was confusing and she frequently had to stop and get her bearings straight. It was maddening. She usually didn't get this shook up. But, she reflected, there had never been a job as bad as this one, with people dying and ships exploding and a monster on the loose.  
It was more like Cypress Station, when she was thirteen and the world had all but ended. Chaos all around her.  
It was all too much. It was getting to her, affecting her more than she would admit to anyone else. But here, in the dark, she had to be honest with herself. This was bad. And it was making her shake with fear. It took some effort to stop those shakes but she tried her best.  
She reached a wall and a ladder leading down another level. She headed down into the darkness as her first flare fizzled out. She let go of it and let it drop into the dark. It died before hitting the floor.  
She lit up another one and continued on. From this point on, it would be easy. Most of the ladders down a level were near each other, here close to the center of the ship.  
She was headed for the next ladder down when the motion tracker on her belt started to chime. She froze. The flare in her hand burned slowly down and she kept very still.  
The chime was soft at first but was getting louder. The Beast was getting close.  
She hesitated for a moment. Should she risk looking at the tracker, to assess where the creature was? Or would this simple action be a waste of time? Was the Beast already too close to her? Was it too late?  
She shrugged off this unhelpful moment of indecision and grabbed her device. She sucked in a panicked breath when she looked at the screen. It was right on top of her.  
Where was it?!  
She looked about, the fight or flight syndrome beginning to set in. When she saw nothing, she looked back at her screen and breathed a sigh of relief. It was near her but several decks up. She was safe. For now.  
She frowned. The blip on the screen that was clearly the Beast was moving. She realized that it must have already made it to the ballroom deck.  
It was already going for them.  
Frantically, she turned on comms.

Not long after Knight had left, Grimes and Zorn shared a cigarette. They were tucked away in a dark corner of the ballroom just behind a doorway that led out into the main hallway of the deck.  
Grimes thanked Zorn for the smoke and took a drag of it. He studied the man. Zorn looked like ex-military to Grimes. "So this pirate business? Pay well?"  
Zorn shrugged. "Pays well enough. But I always knew I'd get caught up with some kind of crazy shit. You know, one of these days. Fuck, never thought it would be a killer alien or anything, but something bad."  
Grimes nodded. "I hear ya. Knew a guy who did the pirate thing for a while. One time, he said that they hit a ship that was curiously quiet. Not a beep on the comms." Another drag. "Well, turns out that they were all hit with some horrible disease. Killed all of em."  
Zorn nodded. "That shit is bad."  
Grimes shook his head. "You ain't heard the worst. The disease wasn't a problem for this guy or his crew. It had died out in the months since it had killed the crew. No, the problem was the rats."  
Zorn cocked a disbelieving eye at him. "The fuck you say?"  
Grimes nodded, eyes narrow as he spoke. "Fuckin rats, man. They were hauling scientific supplies to a colony somewhere outer rim. One of the supplies was lab rats. And some of these rats could be smart, you know? Not like us or anything, but pretty bright." He paused, considering the story, smoking, before continuing. "So one of these rats finds a way out of its cage. It's starving, you know. Finds its way out, lets its brothers and sisters out. The rats are looking all over for food and find the bodies of the crew. And start eating. By the time this guy and his pirate crew show up, these rats have developed a taste for human flesh. And they get hungry again. And, sure enough, first pirate who opens the airlock door... WHAMP!"  
Grimes clapped his hands together and mimed something pouncing on someone. Laughed. Zorn laughed, too.  
Grimes took another drag, blew it out. "Fucking rats fell all over him. Started eating him."  
Zorn finished his cigarette, tossed it away. "What did your friend do?"  
Grimes shook his head. "Tore outta there. Left the guy to die and took off. Since the guy was still in the open airlock when they cut out, he probably got sucked out into space, along with all the killer rats. Imagine that? Buncha killer rats floating in space? Sounds like a nightmare to me."  
Zorn chuckled. Soon both of them were laughing again. When it died down, Zorn was silent for a moment. Then: "That true?"  
Grimes shrugged. "Fuck if I know." He was silent for a moment as well. "You seem like a good guy, Zorn. And sorry about the whole beating the shit out of you thing, but I gotta ask. Why the pirate thing?"  
Zorn shrugged. "Why the salvage thing? Why the anything thing? You just kinda fall into it, you know? The kind of people you're around, where you grew up. This was where I happened to be."  
Grimes nodded slowly. He finished his own cigarette but held the dying butt between his fingers. He wanted to feel it burn his skin. "I can see that. Life comes at you pretty fast." Another pause. The burning smoke touched his skin and he winced. He dropped it a moment later and patted the ash away on his pants. Changed the subject. "Hey, you ever hear of a neutro? Supposed to, you know, neutralize these WY chips that all of us have in our bodies?"  
Zorn reached for his belt and came up with a small device. It was dark grey and no bigger than the palm of his hand. "You mean one of these?"  
Grimes pushed himself off the wall. He winced in pain. Knight's basic meds were beginning to wear off. "You're shitting me. That's it right there?"  
Zorn nodded. "We all carry one. You never know when you might need it. Say you're kidnapping some blowhard governor from a colony world; you know, for the ransom? You don't want him to be easily tracked, you know what I'm saying? With this, problem solved."  
Grimes opened and closed his mouth, shaking his head all the while. "Could you... I mean, if it's not too much to ask..."  
Zorn smirked, scoffed, waved a dismissive hand. "I got you, dog. Where is it in you?"  
Grimes pointed to his midsection where the chip had been installed and Zorn activated the device and ran it over the area. There was a loud beep and Zorn looked at the readout on the device and nodded. "All clear."  
Grimes rubbed his midsection, still shaking his head. "That's... I mean, wow. Thank you."  
Zorn put the device away. "Least I could do. As I said before, I'm your way outta here. So I'll help however I can."  
The two of them shot the shit for a while, getting to know each other better. The two of them were laughing at a joke that Zorn had told when Knight crackled through on comms. "Grimes, Fall? Anyone."  
Grimes activated his comms. "Yeah, go ahead Knight."  
Knight sounded out of breath, frantic. "It's headed towards you. You have to go. Now. I won't have time to make it there."  
Grimes immediately grabbed his own personal screen and looked at it. The rest of them had also activated their motion trackers but set them to silent, not wanting to alert the attention of the Beast.  
Knight was right. The Beast was on its way towards them. The plan seemed to be working, it was just a little further advanced than they expected.  
Knight spoke again. "Into position. All of you."  
Grimes and Zorn looked at each other, nodded. Zorn made his way away from Grimes, further down the ballroom. He reached another doorway that led into the hallway and leaned against it.  
The lights flickered above them and Grimes looked up at them in frustration. After a moment, they went out.  
And stayed out.  
"Fuck," Grimes said.  
He retrieved a flare that Knight had given him, struck it alight. For a moment, he contemplated the red glow of the stick before he tossed it into the hallway. It landed, bounced and rolled further down the hall.  
Knight, on the comm: "Okay, it's close. Fall?"  
Fall answered. "Got it."  
Grimes shook his head. This was crazy. He didn't like how much at risk Fall was but she had agreed to it and he couldn't help himself from backing her up.  
There came the noise of metal banging against metal. It came from further down the main hallway, from where Grimes knew Fall to be. He nodded. This was the plan. Fall was banging against a wall with a broken pipe they had retrieved from the stairwell, trying to attract the Beast's attention.  
Grimes looked at his screen and saw that the Beast was heading in that direction, taking its time stalking down the hallway. Sweat dripped down his forehead.  
This was nuts.  
Grimes kept an eye peeled on the hallway from his hiding place. Soon, he could see the creature.  
In the red glow of the flare, the Beast was hideous, like something out of a nightmare. It was tall, thin, metal and flesh somehow combined together. It was hurt - Grimes could see cracks in its domed head - but it was no longer bleeding.  
It paused and looked down at the flare on the floor of the hallway, cocked its head to one side. It was tempting to shoot it where it stood but Grimes restrained himself. It would do no good. The bullets from his pistol would bounce right off its domed head and do little damage to its body.  
From Keppler's description of the old captain's log book, they knew that the creatures bled acid and, though they were fairly confident that it wouldn't eat all the way through the hull, they didn't want to take that chance if they had to. Hell, even Zorn's rifle would barely do anything more than splatter some acid blood around. The only weapon that would truly work without potentially hurting them - Marlowe's organic destroying rifle - had been destroyed when the Lycia exploded.  
The Beast took a few steps forward, past the flare. It was headed where they wanted it to go, towards Fall.  
It stopped.  
"Come on, come on, you son of a bitch," Grimes muttered under his breath.  
Another series of bangs from Fall, trying to tempt it towards her. The Beast opened its mouth, seemed to taste the air. Then it turned and started away, heading back up the hallway.  
Grimes looked at Zorn, panicked. The Beast was heading towards him.  
Zorn looked back at him and nodded. He readied his rifle.  
Grimes whispered into comms. "Don't do it, Zorn. It'll take you apart. Knight, the fucking alien isn't taking the bait."  
Knight, frantic, coming through the comms. "This isn't the plan, Zorn. Stay where you are. Do not let it know that you're there!"  
Zorn was preparing to jump out of the ballroom and into the hallway to confront the Beast. Grimes shook his head frantically. There was no point to this. All he would accomplish would be to get himself killed and they wouldn't be any closer to getting rid of this thing.  
They had to force it further down the hallway, to Fall. That was the only way this would work.  
Grimes drew in a deep breath, and checked his pistol. It was ready to go. He whispered into the comms. "I'm going."  
Fall, over comms. "No! It will kill you, Grimes."  
Knight: "Grimes, don't get yourself killed."  
To Grimes, the sweat on his forehead felt like a waterfall. His breath was now coming in panicked, short, staccato stabs. "I'm dead weight anyway. Least this way, the rest of you might be able to make it home."  
"Grimes!" Fall shouted.  
Grimes switched off his comms and whirled into the main hallway. He aimed his pistol at the Beast, which was walking away from him, and screamed. "Hey, cockface!"  
As the Beast whirled about, Grimes fired four times. Two of the shots hit the creature in the chest, one in its domed head, and one went wide, missing entirely. The Beast screamed in rage and bounded towards him.  
Zorn swung out into the hallway, behind the creature. Grimes saw him, knew he was going to do something stupid and fired twice more, deliberately missing Zorn by only inches and sending the man back into cover in the ballroom.  
Grimes lurched down the hallway, towards Fall. His leg and arm were in extraordinary pain but he had never felt so alive. Adrenaline coursed through his body and he felt invincible.  
He ran, broken ankle and all, down the hallway. He could hear the Beast behind him. Could feel it. It was close.  
He could see the open doorway on the port side of the ship, opposite of where he and Zorn had been hiding. Could see the light coming from it. Knew that Fall was inside.  
He reached the doorway - the airlock - just as the Beast caught up with him. He had just enough time to see Fall standing in the open airlock. Fall, holding a broken piece of stair railing in one hand. Fall, with a rope tied around her waist at one end and tied around a handle on the interior of the airlock on the other. Fall, covered in blood. Fall, clutching a handful of guts in her other hand; guts that they had retrieved from Marlowe's body. Fall, with a shocked, pained expression on her face. Fall, who wasn't human but seemed more human than anyone else that Grimes had met.  
Fall, who he was going to die for.  
He had enough time to look her in the eye and speak, if only briefly - "I lo--" - before the Beast slammed into him. It sunk its taloned fingers into his chest, between his ribs. Blood erupted from the wounds and Grimes went down.  
The Beast dug in, grasped hold of his rib cage and pulled. With a sickening wrench, Grimes' rib cage was torn from his body. Held in one of the Beast's big, strong hands, it looked like the surface of a grill slathered with blood. The Beast threw it across the hall. It hit a wall and stuck there, a broken piece of rib spearing it like a thrown knife.  
Grimes made a few incoherent gurgling sounds as the Beast now ripped into his open chest and stomach, scooping him out like an avocado. Then he was still.

Fall barely had time to process Grimes' death. Their hope was to lead the Beast to her, make it think that she was alive with the blood and guts provided by Marlowe. But it hadn't worked. And Grimes had paid the price for it.  
She had hooked a portable power supply to the airlock controls. Because of Grimes' sacrifice, the plan might still work.  
She dropped the handful of guts to the floor where they plopped in a heap. Her lips curled into a snarl and she started hitting the Beast with the stair railing. It was bent over Grimes, decimating his body and Fall whaled on it. One of its back sticks broke off and acid blood oozed off it. Still, it didn't move, didn't take the bait.  
Fall kicked it as hard as she could - which was pretty hard since she was synthetic - and heard something crack inside the thing's body. That got the Beast's attention.  
It whirled towards her, arms outstretched and pounced into the airlock. Fall was small and fast and she ducked out of the way, immediately slamming her hand against the control box and closing the two of them inside the airlock.  
As the door closed, the Beast struck out at her. She ducked out of its way and struck out with the piece of railing. Her blow landed on the Beast's right wrist. There was a snap and more blood.  
An alarm sounded in the airlock, deafening to Fall. The Beast shot up in alarm itself, sensing that something was wrong. It looked at Fall and screeched.  
Once again it reached out for her but the outer airlock doors were already opening. As the doors opened to the vacuum and the Void beyond, the Beast was immediately pulled out of the ship. Fall went flying towards the opening as well but her progress was stopped by the rope as it pulled taut.  
Just as she was sure that she was in the clear, the Beast grabbed onto her right foot. There was intense pain as she was pulled almost into a straight line by the alien.  
The air around them was rapidly disappearing into the Void and Fall tried to pull herself along the rope. It was difficult.  
Then another pain shot through her foot. She looked back and saw that the Beast's blood was dripping onto her ankle. Her foot started to melt. The outer airlock doors began to close. She had to do something. Quick.  
The Beast reached up with its free hand, trying to gain traction using her body. Fall started to panic. It didn't last long. Her computer brain provided her with a solution almost immediately.  
She struggled on her belt and came out with the small knife that Grimes had given her earlier today. She stretched herself into almost a pretzel and started hacking away at her melting ankle. Milky white blood splattered up and was instantly taken by the vacuum.  
The pain was intense but it was going to work. She saw the foot stating to break away from her leg.  
The Beast screeched in anger one more time as Fall came down one last time with the knife. The synthetic bone in her ankle broke apart and the Beast went sailing off into the Void, the outer doors closing right behind it.  
Fall slammed to the floor. She felt like her whole body had been run through a thresher. She did a quick systems test and found that, apart from her ankle, everything seemed okay.  
She heard a banging on the window that looked into the hallway and raised her head to the noise. Knight was there, looking worried, Zorn right behind her. Fall gave them a tired thumbs up and collapsed to the floor. She had to reboot.  
But even rebooting wouldn't take away the pain of Grimes' loss. In the end, nothing would.

The Beast floated in the Void for a moment, considering its surroundings. It tumbled, end over end, before regaining control of its flight path. It hit the outer hull of the Lorelei and bounced, once, then caught itself with its tail.  
Steadying itself against the hull of the ship, it began to look for ways back in. It crawled along the time-worn hull of the ship like a vampire climbing across the walls of its castle.  
It would succeed and have its revenge on those inside. There was no way it wouldn't.


	10. Chapter 10

Verve looked down at Harvey, bound and on his knees. The man was a few meters away from her, in the vestibule between her office and the transmat room. The two WY guards were standing either side of him. Her assistant looked at her, his expression one she had never seen on his face before: rage.  
It was mildly alarming and Verve turned her attention to Weyland, sitting across from her. He flicked through his portable screen, presumably reading reports.  
Verve got up from her desk and Weyland's eyes flicked in her direction. "Where are you going?"  
Verve made an expansive gesture at the coffee machine. "Getting a little refreshment. Mind?"  
Weyland shook his head. "Be my guest."  
Verve clicked her tongue and got to making coffee. She spoke with her back turned to the man. "You expect to hear from your team soon? Or your spy, perhaps?"  
"Soon, I would imagine," Weyland said.  
Verve finished pouring herself a cup, took a sip and turned around. She leaned against the station and regarded him with cool eyes. "What if you don't hear from them?"  
Weyland shrugged, still looking at his screen, still reading his precious reports. "If I don't hear from them by morning, we'll leave."  
Verve sipped her coffee. "And you'll be taking me with you." It wasn't a question and Weyland only nodded, still not looking up. "Seems like a sloppy job."  
He still didn't look up. "No more sloppy than yours. It will take them about a week to get back here, anyway. As soon as I hear from them, we'll leave and I'll provide them with a rendezvous point."  
Another sip of coffee. Cold, narrowed eyes. "What would it cost for you to let me go?"  
Weyland spoke just as coolly. "It's not a question of money."  
"I'm not talking about money," Verve said.  
Weyland smirked, still looking down at his screen. "You have nothing else to offer."  
Verve, that calculating look still in place. "I could offer you myself."  
Weyland stopped scrolling through his reports and looked up at her. "What do you mean?"  
Verve set down her coffee and put both her hands on the station. She leaned back. "I mean you could have me right here. Right in this office. Come on. I know you'd get a perverse thrill out of it. Cloned father, cloned daughter. It's like some kinky porn video. I'll let you have me right now and I walk out of here, get on a ship and leave. You'll never hear from me again."  
For a moment - just a moment - Weyland looked shocked. It was gone in an instant. He carefully put his screen down on Verve's desk and stood up. Walked towards her, taking his time. He was smiling as he got real close to her. He leaned in, whispered into her ear. "If I was interested in that in any way, don't you think I would have already taken it from you?"  
Verve pushed him away and he chuckled, not rattled at all. He walked back to the desk, retrieved his screen and sat down. Once more, he wasn't looking at her. "You're stuck with me, fake daughter of mine. Get used to it."  
She wouldn't. Not ever.

An hour had passed since Grimes' death and the ejection of the alien into space. Knight, Fall and Zorn had covered Grimes' body and proceeded down through the decks. They armed themselves at the security room, just in case. Along the way, they had picked out a shoe of comparable size from a dead body, one that was relatively free from burns, for Fall. In the area above the engines and outside the computer room, they had located necessary tools. All it took was filling the shoe with sealant and attached it to the stump of Fall's leg. It worked well enough, though Fall was now a bit shorter on that side of her body and had a limp when she walked.  
Knight stripped down to her waist, leaving just her plain white undershirt. She was on her back under a power station near the engines.  
Keppler crackled through on the comm. "How's it coming, Knight?"  
Knight talked while she worked. "Coming along, captain but Grimes was the real expert. He would have had this fixed in no time flat. Wrench?"  
Fall, sitting near her, handed her the tool. Knight kept working.  
"Okay, keep us informed," Keppler said.  
"Affirmative," Knight said and the communication ended.  
After a moment, Knight wriggled out from under the power station and got up. Fall stood up as well. Zorn stood a few meters away, a smoke provided by Knight clamped between his teeth. He was looking down.  
"Alright," Knight said, "I'm going to see if I can get Mother to restore main power."  
Fall nodded as Knight proceeded into the computer room. The auton walked towards Zorn, limping all the way. "Thank you for helping us."  
Zorn acknowledged her with a raise of his eyebrows and a nod, still smoking. Fall continued. "You didn't have to so I appreciate it. I'm sure Grimes did, too." She looked down.  
Zorn nodded again, took the smoke from his mouth and looked at it. "He did. Told me so." A smoke, a pause, another look at the burning nicotine goodness. "He was an okay guy. Bit of a bastard but so am I. Wish I'd known him longer."  
Fall found herself nodding. "He was good. A good person. I mean, he was a liar, a cheat, a thief, a drug dealer, but... you know. He had your back. Well, my back."  
Zorn smiled. "Kinda cute, too."  
Fall raised both her eyebrows. "If you say so."  
Zorn laughed. It was a sad laugh. He held out his smoke. "To Grimes. I don't have a drink but share this smoke with me."  
Fall looked confused. Finally, she took the offered smoke and took a drag on it. "To Grimes." Like anything she took in her lungs or stomach, it made no impression at all on her. But she nodded and produced a small, fake cough. Handed the smoke back to Zorn.  
There was a noticeable surge in the lights accompanied by the noise of various systems powering up. Knight poked her head out of the computer room. "Got most systems working. Now it's on to modifying the engines."  
Fall nodded and smiled to her. Zorn looked between the two women. "You two a couple?"  
Fall looked down, mildly embarrassed. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess so."  
Zorn nodded. "Good on you. Good to have someone, you know?"  
Fall was still looking down. She realized that this was true. It was good to have someone. Especially when things were at their worst. "Yeah. It is."

As the systems powered back on, so did the external sensors of the ship. They stuttered to a broken half-life and scanned. Immediately sensing a lifeform clinging to the hull of the ship and misinterpreting it as a crew member, it opened the nearest emergency airlock.  
The Beast saw the light emanating from the open airlock and bounded towards it. It slithered inside, leading with its tail. The outer airlock doors shut behind it.  
Still observing protocol, the inner airlock doors remained sealed, waiting for authorization from the captain or other senior staff before opening them. So the Beast was trapped in the airlock.  
But it was warm inside.  
The Beast curled into a ball, its back sticks pointing to the ceiling. It would wait. It was patient.  
It had all the time in the world.

In the wheelhouse, Keppler was at command, Rank navigation. It was a larger cockpit than the Argo, meant to be manned by five people but Keppler was sure that the two of them could operate it just fine.  
On the comm, Knight spoke up. "Alright, power it up."  
"Affirmative," Keppler said.  
She toggled on the engines. There was a moment of stuttering panic as the engines turned over, stalled, then turned over again. Keppler smiled as she felt them humming throughout the whole ship. Through its bones. It was a good feeling.  
Keppler looked at Rank and smiled. He smiled back. Keppler spoke to Knight. "We're hot, Knight! Strap in. Our trip home is going to be almost instantaneous."  
"Right, captain," Knight said over the comm. "We've got chairs we can strap into down here as well as a monitor to mirror your view."  
"Okay," Keppler said, "I'm turning this lady over. Rank?"  
Rank - looking more than a little lost - flicked buttons, consulted his monitor, then seemed to find his way. He punched in their destination, using long-range sensors to chart their path, made sure they wouldn't run into anything once they emerged from the warp tunnel. When he was confidant, he turned to Keppler and gave her a thumbs up.  
Keppler nodded back.  
Knight crackled through on the comm. "We're strapped in, captain. Take us home."  
Keppler smirked, cocked her head to one side. She took one more glance at the massive gas giant. Contemplated the loss of Blanche and Grimes. The needless death.  
But they would be home soon. To Tosh, at least. And that was something. They had survived. She nodded and spoke to Knight through the comm. "We're practically there already."  
She opened the warp tunnel. She could see it form at the bow of the ship, a rainbow studded tunnel. She punched the ship and it slipped inside, racing them through a fold in space, cutting right through the Void.

Unseen by the Lorelei, hiding in its wake, the Argo maneuvered into position and slid into the warp tunnel right behind the larger ship. Valentine had been paying attention. She had heard Grimes and Knight's talk of the warp tunnel and how another ship could use the same tunnel, gliding right in behind the first ship.  
She did just that now, following the Lorelei to its destination. To her destination.

Tosh was almost completely empty. The promenade was littered with half-melted corpses. Glass. Debris. It looked like a tidal wave of sulfuric acid had swept through the station, killing everything in its path.  
All but one ship had left the station's orbit. That ship waited for Weyland and his prisoner.  
A pane of glass in a shop window dangled on its last hinge for a moment, fighting a losing a battle with gravity. It hung on for a moment longer, then broke loose, falling to the floor and shattering.  
That was all. Nothing else moved in the promenade.

Verve's desk screen came to life. Weyland stood up on the other side of the desk while Verve leaned forward, eyes narrowed, looking at the screen. "What the hell is that?"  
Weyland walked around the desk and joined her, leaning against the desk and looking over her shoulder at the screen. He also wore a confused expression on his face.  
Two ships had appeared out of nowhere, fifty kilometers outside Tosh's orbit. One was huge, an old luxury liner. Verve recognized it from the description she had been provided by her scouts. The other was small and she knew it quite well: the Argo.  
She smirked. "Looks like we have a little complication."  
Weyland was silent. He turned away from the desk, hand to his forehead. Verve savored the moment, smiling. Then Weyland's personal communicator started beeping.  
He looked down at it, punched it alive. A voice cut through the static, along with what sounded like loud, old pop music. Verve thought she recognized the voice. Valentine, one of Keppler's crew.  
"Big man!" she said.  
Weyland frowned. "Who's this?"  
"This is Carrie Valentine, your spy on board the Argo," the woman said.  
Weyland nodded, still frowning. "What do you have for me, Valentine?"  
"I've got a spider-like creature trapped in a box!" Valentine said. "It's got a tail and webbed finger like legs. That sound like what you're looking for?"  
Weyland visibly brightened. Excited, even. "That's exactly what I've been looking for Valentine. Head in and dock with the station and we'll meet you."  
"And I assume that I'll be paid handsomely for my efforts?" Valentine said.  
Weyland paced about the office. "You and your collaborators both."  
"Oh, they're all out of the picture," Valentine said. "It's just little ol' me."  
Weyland cocked his head to one side, smirked. "Alright, then. Just you. Yes, you will be paid handsomely. Your old friends in the big ship. Are they going to be a problem?"  
"Nah," Valentine said, "I wouldn't worry about them. They don't have any weapons, as far as I know. Harmless."  
Weyland nodded. "Good. See you soon."  
"I can't wait to see your sexy face, Mr. Weyland, sir," Valentine said.  
The call was disconnected. Weyland turned to Verve and shook his head. "Looks like my team has the upper hand. And your's has nothing."  
Verve was silent.

Valentine had Third Eye Blind blasting in the cockpit. She bopped along with the old tune as she piloted the ship towards the station ahead. She smiled as she saw the Lorelei, now behind her. She had pulled around it and ahead of it just after they had emerged from the warp tunnel. The Argo was smaller, faster, more maneuverable. Better in most every way other than size.  
Valentine sat back and enjoyed her music. The station loomed ahead. She was almost there.  
Behind her, in the cockpit, the box containing the spider - the Royal Facehugger - blinked red along the base. The facehugger tapped its finger-like legs against the seem. After just a minute of work, the box collapsed into six pieces, falling apart.  
The pieces fell to the floor but Valentine couldn't hear it over her music. The facehugger disentangled from the collapsed box and crept across the floor towards Valentine, slowly, taking its time. Its fingertips clacked across the hard metal of the cockpit, getting closer and closer.  
It reached Valentine's chair and clambered up it, swinging around to the back of the woman's chair, behind her head. Its finger-legs peeked around the right side of the woman's head, just brushing up against her hair.  
Valentine felt a tickling on her right side and shook her head in annoyance. Then she saw it. Reflected in the control screen in front of her.  
The thing.  
Her eyes widened in shock and fear as the creature all at once shot around her head and went for her face. Instinctively, Valentine held up her left hand to get in its way.  
The creature clamped around her face, pressing against her hand. The pressure was incredible.  
The ting's tail slapped against her wrist and wrapped around her neck like a whip. It began to constrict.  
Valentine couldn't breathe. Panic began to set in. Her brain raced, animal instinct taking over. She slapped against the thing with her free hand but it did no good. The thing was going to strangle her.  
She tried to scream but it wasn't possible. The creature had her.  
Third Eye Blind continued to blast away on her portable music device, unaware of Valentine's decidedly-not semi-charmed kind of life.  
Valentine grasped out with her free hand, reaching down. At first, she couldn't make it but she forced herself to lean over. She thought she heard something pop in her right shoulder but she got what she was after: the pulse rifle leaning against her chair.  
She fumbled with it for a moment, then placed the barrel of the weapon against the repulsive flesh of the creature between her body and its underside. She didn't think, she just fired.  
Three shots.  
One short burst but it was enough. The creature was blown in two, instantly letting go of Valentine and falling against the console.  
Its acid blood splashed onto Valentine's face, her chest, the pulse rifle and, worst of all, her trapped left hand. There was a loud sizzling all around her. This was accompanied by the smell of burning flesh.  
When Valentine realized that the flesh was her own, she started to scream. The pain came a moment later.  
Her left hand was simply gone in a moment, melted away. Holes burned into her face and chest. Her hair caught fire.  
In front of her, the console sparked, sizzled and burst into flames. She lost control of the ship all at once.  
Third Eye Blind continued to pound on as the ship careened towards Tosh Seven Station, Valentine screaming the whole way. Into oblivion.

The Argo slammed into Tosh Seven Station. It hit the underside, its power center. The Argo was instantly vaporized as Tosh's power cells erupted from the impact. A huge explosion rocked the station then was sucked in by the Void.  
Tosh spun on its axis for a moment before it began to plummet into Aurora's atmosphere. Pieces of it began to break away as it fell.

Everyone in Verve's office was knocked to the floor as the Argo crashed into the station. Verve ended up on the floor behind her desk.  
She didn't think, only reacted. She hit a concealed button on the desk and a pistol shot into the air out of a hidden compartment. She caught it mid-air and held it in both hands. She took quick aim and shot one of the guards near the transmat room. The man was hit twice, once in the upper chest, and once in the face - his left cheek - the bullet exiting out the back of his head in an eruption of blood, brains and pieces of skull. The man fell over backwards, dead.  
The second guard was quicker. He grabbed hold of Harvey and pointed his rifle at the man's head. "Don't do it. Don't do it or I'll kill him!"  
Verve didn't listen. She fired three more times just as the second guard shot Harvey in the top of the head. Harvey's head disintegrated, melted away in a scream as the second guard was hit three times in the face, his head collapsing in on itself. Both of the men fell to the ground, unmoving.  
Verve was whirling around to take care of Weyland when the barrel of a pistol was pressed against her ribs on her left side. She looked and found the man himself pointing the gun at her. "Put it down. Now."  
Verve sighed and dropped her pistol. Put her hands up.  
Weyland smiled and stood up. Verve also got up. Weyland hit her in the lungs and she doubled over.  
"Now," Weyland said, "I know this whole section can be piloted independently from the station. But I can't pilot it myself. So get working or I'll kill you."  
Verve clutched her stomach and looked up at him, rage written across her face. "If I'm going to die anyway..."  
Weyland grabbed her and pointed his pistol against her left leg. "Fine! I'll make you hurt. How about that? I'll make you wish you were dead. Does that make sense to you?"  
Verve sighed. She nodded.  
"Good," Weyland said. "Now get working."

Keppler watched in horror as Tosh's power cells exploded. She couldn't believe it when she saw Argo - her ship - maneuver around the Lorelei and head towards the station. That bitch Valentine had followed them down the warp tunnel.  
As the station began to plummet to the planet below, Keppler saw a large piece of it disconnect from the whole and settle into a stable orbit. But she was more concerned with the falling station.  
She opened comms. "Knight. Did you see that?"  
Knight came through on the comm. "We did, captain. Jesus."  
Keppler got up from the wheel and approached the viewscreen. She touched it with one open palm, watching the station fall slowly into the atmosphere. "Knight, that station. Is it..." She trailed off.  
"Already ahead of you," Knight said. "Fuck. Looks like it's going to land in the valley. Right on top of the colony."  
Keppler closed her eyes. "How long?"  
"Two hours," Knight said. "At most. It's slow but not that slow."  
Rank was by Keppler's side in an instant. "We have to warn them. Come on, call em!"  
Keppler nodded and got back behind the wheel. She opened a channel to the planet below. "Aurora control, Aurora control, can you hear me? This is the Lorelei in orbit. You have to evacuate the colony. The whole fucking thing! It's going to be vaporized by Tosh. Do you hear me?! Tosh is falling through the atmosphere right now and it's going to land right on top of you!"  
There was static for a moment before a voice came through. It was small, panicked. "Uh... Lorelei? Are you there?"  
"Yes, I'm here," Keppler said, annoyed.  
"Lorelei, we need help," the small voice said.  
Keppler held her head. Suddenly she had the mother of all headaches. "Of course you fucking need help! Tosh fucking Seven fucking Station is right on top of you!"  
"Lorelei," the small voice pleaded, "the colony is overrun. Do yo hear me? Overrun!"  
Keppler dropped the hand away from her head. "What do you mean, Aurora?"  
"I mean there are... things running around the colony," the small voice said. "They're everywhere. Aliens of some kind. We need help!"  
Keppler looked at Rank, fear all over her face. "They're on the surface. The fucking things are on the surface! How?!"  
Rank shrugged. He looked like he was in utter terror. Keppler knew the feeling. This was a nightmare with no end in sight. She shook her head, closed her eyes once again and spoke into the comm. "Aurora, we're coming. Do you hear me? We're coming to help."  
Static. The line was dead.  
Keppler took the wheel once again, her gaze fixed ahead, at the planet below.  
"Captain," Knight said over the comm. When Keppler didn't answer, Knight came through again. "Captain?!"  
"Go ahead, Knight," Keppler said dismissively.  
"This ship was not designed to go through an atmosphere," Knight explained. "Fuck, it wasn't even built planetside. It was put together in a space dock."  
Keppler thought about it for a moment before answering. "I don't care. My partner is down there. Everyone we know is down there. We're going down there. No discussion."  
"Captain," Knight said, "you won't even be able to land us. The Lorelei wasn't even built to land!"  
Keppler didn't answer. She set the controls for descent.  
"Captain," Knight said. "Keppler. Renee!"  
Keppler shook her head, angry. "Then we'll crash, Knight! Hold onto something! We're going in!"  
She cut off communications. And started to plunge the huge luxury liner into the atmosphere.


	11. Chapter 11

At first, the Lorelei was nothing more than a dot in the night sky. It grew and grew until there was a loud bang as it punched through the atmosphere and made for the ground.  
It was touch and go but Keppler was able to bring the ship down between the downtown area of the colony and the residential area. It came down with a mighty crash. For kilometers around, the sound of grinding, buckling metal was deafening.  
It touched down bow-first, driving a large trench in its path. Dirt and rock kicked up all around it as the bow crumpled, started to break apart.  
Finally, it reached a point in the earth where it could go no further and started to turn to port and tip over on that side. Parts of the ship broke away, the engines lurched and stopped, powered down.  
The Lorelei made a loud, metal cry - like a dying animal - and came to rest almost completely on its port side. A few sparks stuttered here and there across its surface but it had finally finished its long journey and found its rest.  
Aurora would be its tomb.

The outer door of the airlock near the stern blew open - emergency decompression. A moment later, Knight poked her head out. She was wearing her helmet. Their suits may have been shredded but the helmets worked just fine, which was perfect for surviving on Aurora's surface.  
Knight looked about, poked her head back inside and called down. "We're clear. Come on up!"  
She climbed out of the airlock and unfolded a rope ladder which descended to the ground. She started down, a pulse rifle slung over one shoulder, a pistol tucked into her belt.  
A moment later, Fall started down the ladder, Zorn right after her. All three of them descended down the ladder.  
Knight hopped down the last few feet and hit ground. When she was sure that the other two were okay, she activated comms. "Captain." Nothing. "Captain?"  
"I'm here, Knight," Keppler came through the comms. "Go ahead."  
Knight nodded. "We made it. All three of us are alive. You?"  
"Rank and I are okay," Keppler said. "A little banged and bruised. What do you see out there?"  
Knight scanned the horizon. Ahead of them was the residential area, not more than a few yards away. All looked quiet there. She turned. The massive bulk of the Lorelei blocked the industrial, downtown area.  
She shrugged. "Everything looks alright. Nothing nasty around."  
"Good," Keppler said. "Can you make it around the ship? Meet us?"  
Knight nodded. "I think so. It'll take a few m--"  
She stopped, both speaking and walking about. She had spotted something. Something heading around the bulk of the ship. Something in the dark. Something heading towards them.  
Several somethings.  
She grabbed hold of Fall, pointed. Zorn saw them, too. There were at least a half dozen of them. They were like the Beast but also different. These creatures ran on all fours, moving quite rapidly towards them. "Captain, there are more of them. Heading towards us. We have to move."  
Zorn sent several bursts of fire towards the approaching creatures. One of the aliens went down in a pool of its own acid blood. Then the three of them were running towards the neighborhood.  
"Go, Knight," Keppler said. "Rank and I will be heading towards the church. Watts will have rounded up survivors if he was able. Try to get to us."  
Knight, in full run. "Copy that!"  
The three of them disappeared into the residential area, the aliens close on their tail. Fall kept falling behind, her foot slowing her down. But she managed to keep up, simply pushing her programming to the max. They rounded a corner, stopped. When one of the aliens rounded on them, all three opened fire. Knight was pretty sure that she missed with all her shots. But the alien was cut to pieces. An arm flew off its body and most of its chest disappeared in an acid cloud. It went down.  
They were on the move again. Knight pointed at a ground vehicle nearby and they headed for it.  
Knight used the butt of her pulse rifle to smash the driver's side window open. She reached in and opened the door. Quickly, she got behind the wheel and ducked under the dash.  
Fall and Zorn stood outside the vehicle. Three aliens came running at them.  
The two of them remained as calm as they could under the circumstances. They fired at the oncoming creatures. Two of them went down immediately. The third pounced at them. Zorn put three rounds into the center of the thing's elongated head, which burst apart. The alien dropped to the ground at their feet. The two of them took a few steps back, getting away from the acidic blood.  
The engine of the vehicle that Knight was hot-wiring revved to life. Knight poked her head out. "Get in!"  
Zorn and Fall jumped in the vehicle and Knight got it moving right away. She doubled back, trying to head out of the residential area and towards the ship and downtown beyond.  
They didn't get that far. As they rounded the corner out of the area, they were met with at least twenty aliens, blocking their path.  
"Fuck," Knight said.  
She turned the vehicle around as the aliens rushed towards them. Zorn poked his rifle out the window of the vehicle and took a few shots at the wall of creatures coming for them. He took down more than a couple but it was no good.  
Five aliens slammed into the vehicle as hard as they could. Knight felt the vehicle lurch off its wheels for a moment before collapsing back down to the ground. There was an unhealthy grinding of metal as the creatures torn into the vehicle.  
Knight felt the wheels spin for a moment before regaining traction and the vehicle sped forward. She had no choice but to flee deeper into the residential area as the wall of aliens bounded after them.

Keppler and Rank were practically sideways in the wheelhouse. When the ship came to rest on its side, both of them almost slammed into the glass of the viewscreen. It was a good thing that both of them caught themselves on the long, ornate console because the viewscreen shattered a moment after they came to rest.  
Now they had retrieved rope from the store room, tied it to a support beam and tossed it out the now open wheelhouse. Keppler went first, rappelling down the rope. Rank followed soon after.  
Both of their suits were intact, unlike the splinter group and they left them on. Feet on the ground, Keppler looked up at the alarming image of the Lorelei looming above her.  
To Keppler, it looked like some kind of bird of prey, huge in size, looking down at its prey. She shook it off. The Lorelei was nothing more than a corpse now. It would never fly again.  
Something passed over the crashed ship, high up. Keppler frowned, puzzling over it before figuring out what it was: a drone, scanning the ground below.  
She scanned the horizon. Nothing jumped out at them, nor did she see anything lurking in the dark. She looked up at the sky. She couldn't see Tosh yet but it wouldn't be long. Dawn was approaching.  
But it was always darkest before then.  
Rank clapped her on the shoulder and she jumped. Rank pointed downtown.  
"Church is that way, right?" he asked.  
Keppler nodded. Rank started in that direction, shotgun in hand. After a moment, Keppler followed. It was close enough that they could walk.

"No, no, no," Knight said.  
Fall, in the back seat, leaned her head in. "What?"  
Knight hit the steering wheel. "Engine's dying. We were hit pretty bad by that pack back there."  
The vehicle started to cycle down. Zorn looked out the back. "Don't see em. Think we lost em."  
Knight shook her head. "Don't want to take that chance if I can help it."  
She looked about as she raced through neighborhoods. Her face brightened. Fall caught the look. "You see something?"  
Knight nodded. "Up ahead. That's coordinator Hastler's residence. He'll have something faster than this. Something more sturdy. I'm heading there."  
She spun the wheel and took a hard right, through a pre-fab neighborhood that slowly gave way to nothing. Then Hastler's vast estate loomed out of the dark like an unexpected tombstone.  
The vehicle coughed a few times, stopped, surged forward and finally died. The three of them were out of it in a flash. Zorn immediately checked behind them.  
"Come on, move," he said.  
Fall looked back and saw what he had noticed. At least four aliens were headed towards them.  
The three of them ran towards Hastler's estate. They were running out of time.

High up, in the center of the Lorelei, an airlock door burst open. The door clanged against the old hull and fell far below, crashing to the ground.  
The Beast climbed out of the airlock it had been hiding in and looked about. If anyone were watching, it would have looked like the Beast was smelling the air, sampling it. But no one was watching. There was only the Beast and the dark sky and the corpse of the old ship that had been its home for more than two hundred years.  
The Beast looked down suddenly. The sound of a heavy engine came out of the residential area. A large hover-bus raced out of the neighborhood - they had missed Knight and her splinter group, pursued by aliens, by mere moments - and headed towards downtown, making its way around the crashed luxury liner.  
The Beast saw the hover-bus and knew that people were inside it. It hated people. It wanted them all dead. Wanted them all to pay for taking away its Queen.  
With another look down at the approaching hover-bus, the Beast reared back and jumped off the wreck of the Lorelei. It sailed through the air and landed on top of the hover-bus.  
It almost tumbled off the roof of the vehicle but grabbed on and held tight with its sharp claws. It got into position, curled up.  
Wherever the hover-bus was going, the Beast was as well.

Keppler and Rank passed through the decontamination area of the church and proceeded inside. Their helmets unfolded and rested below their necks on their backs.  
Watts was sitting on a pew halfway into the building. He rubbed his temples. Keppler rushed towards him. "Honey. Babe, are you alright?"  
Watts nodded and looked up at her. There was a tired kind of joy on his face. A satisfied expression. He opened his arms to her.  
Keppler accepted the invitation and hugged him back. Rank looked about the church. Rank counted twelve other people in the church besides Watts and themselves. Miners, by the look of them. All of them appeared either hurt or exhausted. Rank couldn't blame them. They were all sitting down on pews. Two of them sat on the floor.  
The hug broke and Watts took hold of Keppler by either shoulder. He smiled and nodded. "I knew you'd come."  
Keppler frowned. "Of course I came. I love you."  
Watts continued to nod. "Here at the end of all things."  
Keppler shook her head. "No, honey, this isn't the end. We're getting out of here. Come on. You and all these people. Get up, we're going to the terminal."  
It was Watts' turn to shake his head. That sad, satisfied smile on his face. "This is Omega. The end. I didn't used to think the Devil was real but he is. He is, Renee."  
Keppler pushed his arms away and took hold of him. Took charge. "Stand up, babe. Stand up. We're leaving. Is the hover-van ready to go?"  
Rank wandered down a pew, shotgun ready. Something was not right here. Not right at all. "Captain?"  
But Keppler was still dealing with Watts. She took hold of his forehead. "Jesus, you're burning up. Did something happen?"  
Watts nodded but said nothing. Rank saw something in a corner of the room and headed towards it. Some kind of shadow.  
Keppler shook Watts. "What? What is it, babe?! What happened? We have to get moving. Tosh is falling through the atmosphere. It's going to crash into us. We have to go!"  
Watts chuckled. There was no humor in it. "Perfect. Perfect way to go. Appropriately apocalyptic. Fitting, even."  
Keppler took his face in both her hands. Looked him in the eye. "Tell me what happened."  
Watts eyes seemed to clear and he nodded. "I let these men in. Miners. They were fleeing from the mining camp. And some... things were on the vehicle with them."  
Keppler nodded. "Tall, dark. All sharp edges and teeth."  
Watts shook his head. "No, no. They weren't like that at all. I've seen those as well, though. Demons."  
Rank reached the shadow in the corner of the room and frowned. It was a pile of corpses. Small, spider-like creatures. Dead.  
Watts continued. "I let them inside and a whole mess of those things came in with them. Spiders. Horrible hand-like spiders. They attacked us. After that..." He looked confused. "After that, I don't remember anything. I woke up on the floor. That wasn't long before you came in here."  
Keppler looked at Rank, across the room. Rank pointed down at the pile of dead facehuggers. Keppler shook her head, a tear welling up in her eye. She remembered these things from Captain Meyer's description of them. She turned back to Watts. "No, no, no. Come on. It's not true. You didn't."  
Watts nodded, that sad smile on his face again. "It did something to us, honey. It did something to all of us. This is the end. The end of all things. I love you. You hear me? I love you. I have al--"  
He broke off and screamed. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he looked towards the ceiling. All the veins and tendons of his neck and face bulged out. He must have been in incredible pain. He doubled over, his hands clutching behind his torso, as if he were trying desperately to scratch an itch in the middle of his back.  
Keppler fell onto her ass and scooted back a little. Horror written all over her face.  
Watts was completely doubled over now, head almost on the floor of the church, back raised high in the air. There was a wet crunch and his back bulged up under his shirt.  
A large patch of red stained his white threads. The bulge deflated for a moment then another crunch and it was back, larger than before. Blood broke through Watts' shirt and cascaded down his hunched form.  
Keppler put both of her hands to her mouth in terror. Watts continued to scream. It was the worst thing Rank had ever heard in his life. Only the great cracking of the dome of the Star Deck came close.  
Another, final wet, sickening crunch and something broke through Watts' back, his spine and a few ribs visible about it. To Rank it looked like a horrid erect penis of a monster. A dick with teeth, covered in blood. But he could see the resemblance to the creatures described in Captain Meyer's log book.  
Watts was dead, his screams ended. The horrible creature slithered out of the hole in his body and came for Keppler.

Knight was worried that her electronic lock-pick wouldn't be able to break through Hastler's security but it ended up not being a problem. The airlock was already unlocked. Knight shot a glance at the other two.  
They hadn't found any vehicles in the front drive of the house so decided to at least get inside, to safety, before proceeding with their plan. Now this strange wrinkle.  
"I don't like it," Fall said.  
Knight nodded.  
Zorn cocked his head to one side, indicated the entrance to the estate. Knight looked and saw five aliens heading in their direction. He turned to them. "We don't have time to worry."  
Knight had to agree. She opened the airlock and the three of them headed inside. Knight closed the airlock behind them. As a blast of decontamination spray, water and then air wafted over them, the inner door opened onto a dark entryway.  
The three of them unfolded their helmets and held their weapons up just in case. It was dark in here. Too dark.  
"I don't like it," Fall repeated.  
"Maybe no one's home," Zorn said.  
They proceeded slowly into the house. Ahead of them was a staircase leading up. Beyond it was a hallway presumably leading to further areas of the house. To their immediate left was a door leading into a room. Knight couldn't see what was inside. It was dark.  
Then the light inside the room began to flicker and come to life. Knight saw flashes of the horror inside.  
Bodies, both human and alien.  
Blood. So much blood.  
A table overturned. A wall of monitors smashed.  
Large sections of the floor burned by acid blood, leaving open, gaping holes.  
It was - or, more accurately, had been - a security center. It had been decimated by the aliens.  
Fall shook her head. "It isn't safe here."  
"Yeah, no shit," Zorn said. "Nowhere on this planet is safe. Where did the fuck did you people bring me? What kind of lifeboat are you?"  
The other two were silent. Knight pointed her pulse rifle ahead of her, towards the staircase. She breathed heavy. "I don't know if either of you noticed but I'm not the best shot in the world. Surprised that I've done as good as I have up to this point."  
"Babe," Fall said, "you're babbling."  
Knight nodded. "Right. Shutting up."  
They proceeded into the dark, the light from the security room flickering on and off behind them. They crept slowly down the hallway.  
Zorn shook his head. "Fuck this. Yo! Anyone here?!"  
Fall and Knight shot daggers at him with their eyes. Zorn shrugged. "Worth a shot."  
Something answered. It was a high, angry screech. Then Knight saw them, standing at the end of the hallway, some ways down. Four of them.  
Aliens.  
They weren't moving. Not yet.  
For a moment, nothing happened. The three humans and four aliens stood regarding each other. Each group frozen. Then Knight heard a high-pitched, flat tone coming from somewhere in the house. And the aliens started running towards them.  
"Light em up!" Zorn shouted.  
All three of them fired. Zorn fired in a passionate manner, his anger directed towards the creatures. Every shot seemed to come with a powder-keg of hatred. Fall's shots were precise, measured. Her computer brain found weaknesses and key points and zeroed in on them. Knight fired almost in a panic, fear getting the best of her. She only managed to hit one of the creatures and that was only a glancing shot.  
Zorn took down three of the beasts. His rifle erupted fire and split apart a head, bisected a body, blew off a leg.  
Fall brought down the remaining creature with a short, controlled burst of fire directed in a straight line up, from one of the alien's sternum to its head. It was nearly split down the middle, its acid blood burning the floor and the walls on either side of it.  
All four of the creatures fell to the ground, dead. Zorn took a deep breath and looked at the other two. "That wasn't so bad."  
There came an amused clapping from Knight's right. She whirled about and looked for the source of the sound.  
Standing on the landing of the stairs leading up was a man in a nice but utilitarian suit. He was tall and thin. He wore sunglasses. Inside. At night.  
He continued to clap for a moment before putting his hands in his pockets and smiling down at them. Five aliens stood in front of him like a line of soldiers. They weren't attacking him but waiting for something. A command?  
Knight shook her head, confused. What was happening?  
The man shook his head. "Good show. Excellent. What are you going to do for an encore?"  
The three of them trained their rifles at him. The man clicked his tongue. "Now, no need for those. I don't think you'd be able to take us all down, anyway."  
Zorn chuckled. "I only count five monsters and an asshole. No big deal."  
The man laughed. "Are you sure your math is right?"  
Zorn opened his mouth to answer but stopped. Knight saw why. Out of the rooms on the upper staircase, ten more aliens filed out. Once again, Knight was reminded of soldiers, falling into line.  
The man on the landing smiled wide. "Care to have another crack at the equation?"

Keppler fumbled for one of the pistols tucked into her belt. Her sweat-soaked palm and fingers slipped off the grip again and again.  
The horrid creature was so close now, inches away. It's small, razored mouth was open, ready to strike. It screamed as it came.  
Keppler finally got a grip on the pistol but it was too late. The creature was going to reach her. She was dead.  
Then there was a loud report - a mighty bang that reverberated throughout the church - and the creature's top half disappeared. Yellow, acid blood was blown back, onto the pews and Watts' body. None of it it hit Keppler.  
She looked up, behind her and saw Rank, holding his shotgun, which was smoking. He had saved her.  
He offered her his hand and Keppler took it. He helped her up. For a moment, she couldn't find her footing and Rank steadied her. He looked at her, concerned. "You okay?"  
Keppler nodded, wiped away a tear. "Yeah. We have to get these people to safety."  
Rank shook his head. "They're lost causes."  
Keppler frowned at him. "What do you mean?"  
"Same things going to happen to them that happened to Watts," he said.  
One of the nearby miners stood up from the pew he was sitting on. "I don't feel so good."  
He started to shake. Foam streamed from his mouth and he fell back down on the pew. It was a horrible fall and Keppler heard the man's back break as he hit the hard woodform of the pew.  
The man hardly seemed to notice. He clutched his chest, opened his mouth and screamed. Blood began to form on the front of his shirt, on his chest.  
Rank wasted no time. He took two steps towards the man, aimed and shot the miner in the chest. The man's ribs burst open with the shot. There was a horrible scream that came from inside the hole and another of those horrible creatures slithered out, half of its head and upper body blown away. Yellow blood sprayed and oozed out, beginning to melt the miner, who was mercifully dead by this point.  
The other miners in the room all stood up in shock.  
"What's going on?!" one of them shouted.  
Then he, too, started to scream in pain as his body began to shake. This happened down the line of the miners, like a wave. They all started to scream and shake. Fall and foam. Erupt and die.  
Rank started firing, shooting as many of them as he could. Keppler joined him.  
A man who had just fallen over looked up at her as she stepped over him. He held out a pleading hand, the other clutched to his chest. Keppler could feel more tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry."  
She shot him three times in the chest. The man slumped over, dead. Keppler hoped that was enough.  
"Shit," Rank said.  
She looked over and saw him pump the shotgun again but only getting a click. He was out of ammo. He fumbled for more shells that he had tucked into a pouch on his belt.  
One of the miners near him - who had been on the floor previously - shot up like a jack-in-the-box. He screamed in utter pain. His eyes rolled back in his head to the whites.  
His body contorted and suddenly his head cracked to one side - the left - and one of the creatures erupted out of him, between his neck and his shoulder. There was an eruption of blood and bits of bone. The man began to split in two as the creature crawled its way out.  
Keppler rushed to Rank's aid, stopped right behind him and rested her arm on his shoulder, took careful aim. She shot the thing three times. It screeched as it died.  
Acid blood burned into the man's neck until his head was too heavy for it and fell forward, hanging by only a tiny strip of flesh. His body fell over backwards, smashing into the pews.  
"Let's go," Keppler said.  
The two of them made for the airlock. Rank tried to reload as he ran. Keppler focused on the path ahead of her. She could hear people screaming all about her, could hear crunching sounds as they all died and erupted, becoming shells as the creatures burst out of them.  
They reached the airlock. It opened for them and Keppler dashed inside. Rank finished loading his shotgun, cocked it and joined her.  
Keppler didn't even see it coming. One of the chestbursters came pouncing into the airlock with them, the door closing behind it. It latched onto Rank's neck and bit him in the temple.  
Rank began to scream and flail about. Blood spit out in a trail behind him as he twirled in terror. Keppler raised her pistol but couldn't get a shot. The man was moving so fast.  
The creature used its small arms to carve out canyons in Rank's cheek. Its tail wrapped around his neck.  
Rank wasn't thinking straight. It was apparent that all rational thought had fled his mind in fear and panic. Keppler knew what was coming before it came. "Rank, no!"  
Rank threw himself into a corner as the decontamination spray clouded everything in white. Keppler just had time to see Rank stick the barrel of his shotgun against the creature.  
"Stop!" Keppler said. "That's an order!"  
She couldn't see anything anymore. The spray was too thick. There was a deafening noise as the shotgun went off. Keppler collapsed into the corner opposite Rank.  
The spray cleared and Keppler could see him now. The small alien creature was dead, almost completely gone. But a quarter of Rank's head was gone with it. The shotgun blast had torn into him and the acid did the rest.  
A spray of water showered down on Keppler, the end of the decontamination process. She wiped her face.  
Rank was crumpled on the ground in the corner, his head and shoulder sizzling. Keppler could hear it. It was the second worst thing she had ever heard. And the worst? The sound of Watts' dying screams just a few minutes earlier.  
Keppler flicked her head to one side and her helmet closed over her head. The outer doors of the airlock opened and she dashed out into the poison air of the planet.  
She knew that Watts kept a hover-van big enough to cart around a small flock parked on the side of the church. She made her way there, determined. No more tears. Not anymore.  
Only a grim, desperate need to survive. No matter what the cost.

"My name's Rope," the man at the top of the stairs said.  
He was still smiling. Zorn wanted to wipe that fucking smile off his face. But he controlled his anger. He looked at Knight. She looked back at him, nodded, then looked up at Rope. They all kept their weapons trained on the man.  
"What do you want?" Knight asked.  
Rope made a sour face. "Money. Isn't that what everyone wants?"  
Knight shrugged. "I understand. But survival's pretty good, too. Wouldn't you say?"  
Rope seemed to consider it. "Without money? I don't know."  
He stepped around the aliens. He didn't say, "Excuse me," but he might as well have.  
"Synadrone Systems pays well," he said. "They wanted this little experiment to fail. Maybe even take it over for themselves."  
Knight frowned. "What experiment? What's going on here?"  
Rope smirked. That fucking smirk. Zorn shook his head in frustration. Rope pulled a small device out of his pocket, shook it. "This little device controls these things. It emits a t--"  
"I've heard enough," Zorn said.  
And shot the device in Rope's hand. The shot also blew away most of the man's hand and continued into an alien's head behind him. Rope reeled back, a look of complete shock on his face.  
His sunglasses tumbled off his head, revealing small, scared eyes. The alien behind him that had been shot fell to the ground, dead.  
Slowly, the aliens around Rope turned to regard him. A low growl started to grow among them. Suddenly, Rope seemed very, very small. The aliens surrounded him.  
Rope began to scream. It didn't last long.  
Zorn could no longer see the man. He had been enveloped by the aliens. There was a thrashing of tails and bodies as they began to tear into him. Zorn could see blood spraying, covering the aliens and walls of the landing.  
Knight looked at Zorn, an annoyed look on her face. Zorn shrugged.  
"He was pissing me off," he said. He indicated the army of aliens. "Be my guest."  
Knight nodded, took aim with her pulse rifle, then cocked a grenade into the chamber. She fired. Her aim seemed okay to Zorn. The grenade hit the center of the aliens and the three of them took cover in the hallway as the explosion blew the creatures apart.  
Zorn could see chunks of alien flesh fly out of the stairwell. He smiled. Three aliens stumbled out of the stairwell, dazed. He and Fall shot them as they came. The aliens fell to the ground, dead.  
When they were sure that no other aliens were coming, the three of them cautiously headed into the main entryway below the staircase. Knight nodded at the mess they had made of the stairs. Then she turned and punched Zorn in the jaw.  
Zorn reared back, more surprised than anything. He touched his mouth, came away with a little blood, and shot her a questioning look.  
"I wanted answers," Knight said.  
Zorn nodded. "Fair enough. Pretty obvious that he wasn't the big man, though. Just another spy, like Valentine. Only working for the competition."  
Knight nodded. "Sorry."  
Zorn shrugged. "It ain't no thing."  
Fall was already examining the dead aliens on the floor of the entryway. She shook her head. Knight joined her.  
"What is it?" she asked.  
"These aliens are different," Fall said. "Look."  
Zorn joined them. He looked down at the corpses and nodded. They were different than the Beast on the Lorelei. These aliens looked more dark brown than steely black. And was that...?  
"What the fuck?" Knight spoke for him.  
She poked the back of one of the aliens, between two of its back sticks. The skin around the base of the sticks looked lighter. Almost pink. Fleshy. Human-looking. And there were small bits of hair clumped around it.  
"Disgusting," Zorn said.  
Knight nodded. Fall was silent.  
After a moment, Knight stood up. She looked at him, then away, off into the distance. "I'm going to get answers."  
Zorn nodded. "Alright. I'll help."

Keppler drove the hover-van towards the terminal. She activated comms and got in contact with Knight. The three of them had just killed a whole stairwell full of aliens.  
Keppler told them of Rank's death and that she was heading towards the terminal. Knight sighed, upset by the news of the death of her friend.  
"I have to get answers," she said.  
Keppler nodded, keeping her eyes on the road ahead. An alien stumbled out of the dark and she swerved to avoid it. The creature reached out to grab the van but missed. Keppler left it behind in the dirt. "I understand."  
"Any ideas?" Knight asked.  
"Find Hastler," Keppler said. "If he's still alive, that is. Find him and bring him along. We'll make him talk. He likes to talk, so I imagine that he's itching to tell anybody that will listen what's going on. And how it's not his fault and blah, blah, blah."  
"Right," Knight said.  
"Keep me informed," Keppler said.  
"Captain?" Knight said.  
Keppler had to swerve around a pile of dead bodies - people - to keep on her path. It was touch and go - she almost tipped the van over - but she did it. "Yeah?"  
"Be careful," Knight said.  
Keppler nodded. She chuckled, though it wasn't funny. "I'll try. It's not that kind of day, in case you hadn't noticed."  
"Affirmative," Knight said.  
Keppler cut comms and continued on her way. She looked at the time. By Knight's calculations, they had less than an hour to get off this planet before Tosh crashed into the colony. Keppler could see the first rays of dawn crest above the mountains in the distance.

Knight, Fall and Zorn approached the control center door. It was further down the hallway where they had killed four aliens just a few minutes prior. A quick scan revealed two lifeforms inside that appeared human.  
Knight was in the lead and she hesitated on how to best approach the situation. She raised her fist to knock on the door, stopped. She turned the fist and pounded it instead. "Hastler! Are you in there?!"  
There was silence for a moment before a voice spoke up behind the door. It belonged to a woman. "Who's there?"  
Knight looked at Fall and Zorn, frowned, then turned back to the door. "My name is Knight. Is Hastler in there with you?"  
"Knight?" the voice asked.  
"I'm part of Keppler's salvage team," Knight explained.  
Knight could hear movement on the other side of the door, then the deep voice of a man spoke. "Keppler! So she's alive, I presume?"  
"Very much alive," Knight explained.  
"Have you taken care of Rope?" Hastler asked.  
Knight smirked and cocked her head to one side. "He's quite dead."  
"Good," Hastler said. "Good work. But I believe we'll wait inside this room for a while longer."  
Knight sighed. "We don't have any time for this. Tosh is falling through the atmosphere as we speak. It's going to crash right on top of the colony. Nothing in the valley will survive. Hundreds of kilometers outside it, as well. You better let us in."  
A pause. Then: "How do I know you're telling the truth?"  
"It doesn't matter," Knight said. "If you don't let us in, I'm just going to blow this door down with a grenade."  
Another pause. Then she heard the sounds of electronic locks disarming. An interior metal door slid aside. A moment later, the ornate wooden door opened, revealing a large, impressive man and a lined, thin woman standing behind him.  
Hastler tried on a smile that didn't look genuine. "Come in."  
The three of them proceeded inside. Knight looked around the room and shook her head. So this was how the other half lived. Even in a room like this, a control center for an experiment. She shot a glance at the wet bar and wished she had the time to make herself a drink.  
Hastler was already getting ready, packing things up as it were. "If what you say is true, then we have to make it to the terminal. There'll be a transport ship ready to go. We can take my flyer. The launchpad is past the transmat facility." He walked to the window that looked out onto the planet's surface.  
Knight joined him and could see the facility. She nodded. "That's a good plan. In the meantime, you can tell me what the fuck is going on here."  
Hastler looked at her, eyebrows raised. He fiddled with his shirt pocket and produced a cigar. He clipped it, lit up, smoked. "That's far above your pay grade."  
Knight didn't react, just looked at him. Zorn did the heavy lifting for her. He approached the man. Hastler was tall but Zorn easily eclipsed him. The pirate grabbed hold of Hastler's jacket collar and pressed the barrel of his rifle into the man's considerable gut.  
"You think this has anything to do with money?" Knight asked. "For us, I mean? I know it's about money for you, but I don't care about money. Not right now. I want to know what happened here. You see, right now, you and I are the same. It doesn't matter how much or how little money either of us have. We're both going to be killed by either a falling space station or a pack of killer aliens. So, let's talk. Get it?"  
Hastler sighed and pulled away from Zorn. He patted down his clothes and looked at the taller man. "If you must know, I suppose I can elucidate you." He crossed the room to the wall of monitors, looked at the smashed one in the middle. "It's an experiment years in the making. Started with the USM Auriga, some time ago now."  
Knight looked at Fall. She returned her gaze, eyes wide.  
Hastler continued. "Some very smart folk perfected cloning. They cloned a woman who had been impregnated with an alien. A Queen alien. It took them a while to perfect the project. They tried eight times. And the eighth time was the charm, it seems. It was almost perfect. But then the Auriga went dark, crashed into the Earth. So, experiment destroyed. Or was it? Not quite. Weyland Yutani, my employers, discovered that a Queen embryo was also recovered from the seventh clone of this woman. It was alive but deemed unsuitable for the experiment that the USM was conducting. Too human. Too slow to grow. But it was still alive and we nurtured it, let it take its time to grow. Took years to mature."  
Knight approached him, interested despite all the hate building up inside her. Hastler made himself a drink at the wet bar. Knight almost asked him to make her one, as well, but resisted.  
Hastler pressed on. "We put her here. The Queen. Deep in the mine. This was a year ago, after we'd been poisoning the water supply for many years. The idea was to change your DNA. All of you. So that when an alien gestated in your bodies, its DNA would also be affected. And we hoped to control those newborn aliens. Seems to have worked, I must say. A smashing success."  
Knight shook her head. "All those lives. Did they mean nothing to you?"  
"On the contrary!" Hastler said. He came around the wet bar and approached her. He had even forgotten his drink. "I remember every single person who was sacrificed for this mission. I cared for all of them! But their sacrifice was necessary. Don't you see that this will save lives in the long run? These aliens can replace soldiers. No more of our people need die in a pointless dispute. We have enemies, we just send in our new troops. It's brilliant!"  
Knight was still shaking her head. "It isn't worth the cost. This planet is dying. Your experiment has failed."  
"No," Haslter insisted. Now he was shaking his head. "It's worked swimmingly!"  
"And do you know why it failed?" Knight continued, unabated. "It's failed due to simple corporate espionage! Greedy company against greedy company! This was about a percentage! Not about saving human lives! This was about money! Like everything is. And do you know what? Those things out there, they don't care about money. They only care about surviving. Your control on them won't hold. They'll adapt. Change. Evolve. Fuck, their whole life cycle is a fucking evolution in and of itself! You people are morons!"  
Hastler sighed. "You wouldn't be able to understand."  
"No, I guess I wouldn't," Knight said, approaching him and getting in his face. "I'm just a grease monkey. A mechanic. I'm nothing to you. You don't even know my name."  
"Of course I do!" Hastler insisted. "It's Knight!"  
"And my first name?" Knight asked.  
Hastler hesitated. He pointed at her. "Don't tell me."  
Knight scoffed. "That's what I thought. All that talk of knowing everyone in this colony. What nonsense. Come on, get everything you need and we'll go. Do you have any weapons?"  
Hastler was still shook up by his slip-up but slowly he came around. He looked at her, smiling now. "Oh, we have weapons. Don't you worry about that."

Keppler reached the terminal and saw that there was already a gate open. She pulled the hover-van into the gate and proceeded onto the tarmac. In the distance, she could see a massive transport ship. It wasn't as large as the Lorelei but it was close. She could also see a line of people making their way towards the ship.  
She piloted the hover-van up to the line and found an air traffic controller waving people through. She stopped and got out of the vehicle.  
The controller approached her. She knew the man. Gibson was his name.  
"Keppler," Gibson said. "You made it. Jesus H Fucking Christ. This is a damn mess."  
"Tell me about it," Keppler said as she approached him.  
"Did you see that huge ship crash a bit ago?" Gibson asked.  
"Who do you think was piloting it?" Keppler said.  
Gibson looked shocked. "No shit?"  
Keppler nodded. "No shit." She indicated the transport ship. "This the only way out?"  
Gibson nodded. "Lord Jim. Last ticket outta here. Only ticket outta here, actually. Only ship available."  
"How many do we have?" Keppler asked. "Survivors, I mean."  
Gibson shook his head, looking like he was on the edge of despair. "With you, I've counted ninety-three."  
Keppler also shook her head. Less than a hundred. In the whole colony. It was unbelievable.  
Gibson sighed. "Hold up your hands for a minute."  
Keppler frowned but did so. Gibson ran a palm-sized scanner over her body, concentrating on her chest. Now she knew what he was doing.  
She nodded. "Those things? The ones that come out of people's bodies?"  
Gibson nodded. "We've been getting reports all night. They just exploded all over the colony. Not letting anybody on the boat that is infected."  
Keppler was still frowning. "You could freeze them. I'm sure a doctor or scientist could do something to help them."  
Gibson nodded. "First of all: not my call. Secondly, we don't have the time. Not only are we dealing with this fucking alien thing but Tosh is--"  
"Falling out of the sky," Keppler finished. "Yeah, I saw that, too."  
Gibson looked suspicious. "You are remarkably well-informed, aren't you?"  
"Don't look at me like that," Keppler said. "It's been a terrible fucking day."  
Gibson nodded. "Yeah, for you and everyone else. Look, we got less than an hour. Don't bother getting in line. When you're ready, just get on the ship. I'm not so sure about Delany. He's a good guy but not the best pilot. Only one we could find that was still alive. So maybe you'll be piloting this thing yourself."  
Keppler nodded. "I'm hoping for Fall. She's on her way."  
Gibson shook his head. "Well, she better hurry. We're running out of time."  
A few other official-looking types were scanning people nearby. As Keppler stepped away from Gibson, she saw a woman break away from one of them and make a run for the transport ship. Keppler could see tears and a panicked expression through the woman's breather.  
The official pointed at the running woman. "She's got one inside her! Take her down!"  
Two other officials immediately raised two rifles and shot the woman down. She hit the tarmac and began to shake. Her face turned to Keppler and foam was visible flowing from her mouth.  
The two shooters approached the woman. Keppler looked away as they shot the downed woman, killing both her and the monster that was about to erupt from her body.  
It was like Hell. A literal Hell that she was trapped in.  
Silently, she encouraged Knight and Fall to hurry up. Hurry up so that they could all get out of here.

In the security center, they loaded up on weaponry. Knight decided to stick with her pulse rifle. She still had quite a bit of ammo left.  
Hastler didn't seem all that bothered by all the dead men strewn about the security room, nor the aliens, for that matter. Knight frowned. No surprise there. Umbray, the woman who was with Hastler, seemed more than a little shaken up by everything. She seemed skittish, like she was about to dart away at any moment, like a frightened rabbit.  
When they all felt sufficiently armed, they decided to make for the transmat center and the flyer beyond. They made their way to the airlock. Knight, Fall and Zorn put their helmets up while Hastler and Umbray grabbed breathers hung up outside the airlock.  
The airlock opened onto the surface of Aurora and they stepped out into the mess. The sun was beginning to poke out over the mountains. Its red rays were both brilliant and horrible. Knight realized that she was looking at them for perhaps the last time. Within the hour, for better or worse, she would never see their like again.  
They rounded the large house and headed for the transmat facility. To Knight, it looked incredibly far away, though she knew in reality that it was only a matter of a few dozen meters. But with the dust kicked up by the morning breeze, everything was covered in an obfuscating red.  
They were close. They reached the transmat facility and began to head around it. Through the red dust, Knight could see the pad and the flyer parked on it. It could hold six, more than they needed. It was perfect. Fast, sleek. The newest model.  
To Knight, it was beautiful. She actually smiled. They were going to make it! They were going to get out of here! With plenty of time to spare.  
That was when she saw the aliens. At least a dozen of them. Bounding around the flyer and coming for them.  
Knight didn't think, just acted. She crouched down and took a few shots at the oncoming aliens. "Into the transmat facility! Now!"  
They all followed her orders. Zorn and Fall took down a few aliens with short, controlled bursts before doubling back. Knight couldn't hit for shit but she kicked up some dirt ahead of the aliens, causing a few of them to back off; momentarily, at least.  
She turned and ran for the transmat facility airlock. Zorn, Fall and Umbray were already inside. Knight joined them. But where was Hastler?  
She squinted and saw that he was still just around the side of the facility. She yelled at him. "Hastler! Get the fuck in here! Come on!"  
"There's no need!" Hastler said.  
He held up his hands in a grand gesture. In one of them, he held a small device. His control device.  
He punched a sequence into it and a high-pitched, flat tone sounded. He spoke one order into the device. "STOP."  
The aliens all stopped at the same moment. They stood to their full height and swayed from side to side. Hastler laughed. "My army! My beautiful army!"  
"Hastler!" Knight insisted. "Stop messing about!"  
But Hastler wasn't listening. He punched in another sequence and spoke. "Form a circle."  
The aliens did so, slowly forming a circle outside the transmat facility. Hastler began to back away, towards the airlock. He looked over his shoulder at the others. His smile was wide.  
"Fight," he spoke into the control device.  
The aliens began to shriek. They went at each other. Tore into each other's flesh. Blood began to fall, limbs were severed. The aliens were killing each other.  
"Yes!" Hastler said. "I am your master! You work for me!"  
One of the aliens backed away from the carnage. It got down low, head close to the ground. It hissed and turned to Hastler.  
Knight started to go for the airlock control. "Hastler! It's not working! Don't you see?! That one is not under your control! It hasn't worked!"  
Hastler began to back into the airlock. He looked frantic. He punched sequence after sequence into the control device. The alien continued to advance on him, slowly making its way towards them.  
Zorn aimed at the thing. "I can't get a clear shot! Motherfucker is in the way!"  
"Hastler, get down!" Knight ordered.  
He wasn't paying attention. Behind the approaching alien, three other aliens had survived the massacre and also started towards the coordinator.  
"Oh, shit," Fall said.  
She and Zorn began to take shots at the other aliens. They were far enough away from Hastler. Knight saw two go down. She wasn't sure about the third. Everything was happening so fast.  
Finally, Hastler was inside the airlock. Knight hit the controls and the airlock door began to close. The alien hissed and pounced at them.  
It was inside the airlock with them as the doors closed behind it. It slammed into one of the walls, rounded on them all. Umbray screamed. It was a high, panicked shriek.  
Fall fumbled with the controls on the other side and the inner doors opened and they all tumbled out of the airlock. Fall, Zorn and Knight all ran towards the back of the facility, towards the transporter pad itself.  
Hastler stumbled and fell but he was up in an instant. The alien came for him but the man grabbed Umbray and held her in front of him as he backed into one of the side walls of the facility.  
"Hastler, you fuck!" Umbray said.  
The alien swiped out with its tail. The razored fin slashed across the woman's stomach. She stopped, a look of complete shock on her face. The slice in her stomach began to open and a waterfall of blood spilled out. Her intestines were visible within the slit. She dropped to the ground and slid backwards, still trying to get away from the alien and Hastler.  
Hastler turned and ran the entire length of the facility. Zorn and Fall shot at the creature. They hit it at least three times but it kept coming.  
Hastler ran into Zorn, knocking the man over. He was frantic. Sweat covered every bit of exposed flesh that Knight could see.  
The coordinator ran onto the transporter pad, cowered in terror as the alien came for him. Fall shot at the alien and hit it in the back. Horrid yellow acid blood sprayed out, covering the transporter control system. Sparks started to fly.  
Someone pushed Knight aside. She fell onto her ass on the floor and looked up.  
Umbray was at the control station. She clutched her gaping stomach wound with one hand and worked the controls with the other. There was an expression of pure rage on her face. Knight looked at her, then looked at Hastler and the alien, both of them on the transporter pads.  
The alien grabbed hold of Hastler, digging its talons into him. The man screamed in pain and terror.  
Umbray got the machine going. It sparked and screamed as it came to life. She punched a few buttons and moved a lever on the base. On the transporter pads, both Hastler and the alien faded out of existence in a shimmer of green light.  
The transporter control machine sparked one last time and powered down. It seemed to lurch in place. Smoke trailed out of it.  
Knight slowly got up and approached Umbray. The woman held out a hand to stop her. She doubled over and fell to the ground. The wound in her stomach widened. Her entire bottom half was drenched in blood. She shook and lurched and her intestines sloshed out of her, smacking against the floor in a grotesque pile.  
"That son of a bitch," she said.  
Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell to one side. She was still. Dead.  
Knight, Fall and Zorn all looked at each other. Zorn shook his head. "Where did they go?"  
Knight shrugged. "I have no idea."

When the monstrosity shimmered into existence on the transporter pad, Weyland was leaning in the doorway of the room, looking at Verve. The woman was still sitting at her desk.  
Weyland turned to the transporter room and gaped in shock as something materialized on the pads. When it came into being, Weyland resisted an urge to vomit.  
It was quite literally the worst thing either of them had ever seen. A horrible splicing of alien and human, fused together by the faulty transmat. It half shrieked, half screamed as horrible life was bestowed upon it.  
It roughly resembled Hastler - large and wide - but four back sticks poked out of it. A tail that looked like an umbilical cord ending in a fin swept across the floor. Its face was elongated like those of the alien but covered in human skin. A long strip of hair topped it.  
The thing stumbled off the transporter pads and into the harsh light of the room. Its bulbous stomach sloshed from side to side. Its genitals were vaguely human but also looked like rusted, dying metal.  
Weyland was horrified. "What are you?"  
The monstrosity looked at him and screamed louder. It came for him.  
Weyland grabbed his pistol and fired at the thing. He missed. Fired again. Missed. His hand was shaking violently. Panic began to overtake him.  
He turned back towards Verve's office. He didn't make it any farther than that. The thing's tail arced through the air and stuck itself in Weyland's back, just below his left shoulder. It came out the other side, ripping through his body. There was a shower of blood. Weyland stopped, his eyes clouding over.  
Verve moved as quickly as she could. She dropped to the floor and darted towards Weyland. She grabbed what she wanted and stood back up.  
She knocked aside the dying CEO and aimed the organic destroying rifle at the monstrosity. She fired twice, hitting it with both shots. The thing began to dissolve, the organic destroying shells even burning its harmful acid blood away, rendering it harmless. It continued to scream as it faded from existence.  
Weyland dropped to his knees. The tail in his body went slack as it became detached from the melting monstrosity.  
He looked up at Verve. There was a pleading in his eyes. Something that Verve hadn't seen before. Then he shook his head. Chuckled. That was all.  
Verve stuck the barrel of the rifle against his forehead and pulled the trigger. Weyland didn't scream as his head began to disappear. He toppled over backwards as the top half of his body melted away into nothingness.  
When it was over, Verve sighed. She looked at the mess of bodies strewn across her office and the transporter room: the two WY troopers, Harvey, the monstrosity and Weyland.  
She shook her head as she headed back to her desk. She changed the course of the ship, taking it out of Aurora's orbit for the last time and into the Void.  
Who was going to clean up this mess?

Knight pressed her face against the window of the transmat facility, looking out onto the planet's surface. She turned one way, then the other. Nodded. She turned to the others. "I don't see any more of them. Let's go."  
Fall and Zorn joined her at the airlock. Fall opened it and they proceeded inside. The other doors opened after that and they walked out.  
The first thing they encountered were the three aliens that Fall and Zorn had wasted before they had retreated inside. As they rounded the small building, they ran across the circle of dead aliens that Hastler had ordered to slay each other. It was a horrible sight.  
Red dust covered everything, flying through the air in the powerful morning breeze that wafted off the looming mountains. Visibility was low and that worried Knight. She kept looking over her shoulder, trying to see if anything would jump out of the haze and attack them.  
She saw the flyer ahead and picked up the pace. They were almost there.  
This was just like before, Knight thought. At any moment, this escape was going to be snatched away from them.  
But it didn't happen. They reached the flyer. Fall immediately got in the cockpit and Zorn the back.  
Knight nodded, holding the passenger door open. They had made it. They were going to escape.  
She put a foot up to step into the vehicle when there was a loud shriek and something slammed into her. Long, powerful arms grabbed her around the middle.  
It was an alien, emerging from the red haze. It had her.  
Frantically, she fought against its grasp but it was no good. It was too strong for her. She fumbled for her pulse rifle but it dropped to the ground.  
The alien started to run and Knight hit her head against the open door of the flyer. There was a flash of bright white light and then darkness.


	12. Chapter 12

"Knight!" Fall screamed.  
The woman was snatched from them and carried off into the red dust of Aurora. Fall unbuckled her seat belt, started to get out of the flyer. Zorn grabbed her. Fall forced herself out of his grip and leaned out of the vehicle. "Gwyn!"  
But she was gone. Fall saw no sign of her. She plopped back down in her seat, shocked.  
Zorn shook his head. "We gotta go."  
Fall was silent for a moment, then shook her own head, decisively. "No. We're going after her."  
Zorn looked at her, frowning. "You're outta your mind. We do not have the time for a rescue mission."  
Fall powered up the flyer. "We have plenty of time."  
"How do you even know if she's alive?" Zorn asked.  
"If they wanted her dead, they would have just killed her," Fall explained. She flicked the sensors on.  
"Then how do you know where they'll take her?" Zorn pleaded.  
"The mine," Fall said. "Has to be the mine. That's where the Queen is so that's where the eggs will be. That's where she's going."  
"I've half a mind to throw you out of this flyer and get the fuck outta here myself," Zorn said.  
Fall looked at him, determined. "Two things. One: do you even know how to fly this thing?"  
Zorn shrugged. "I'm sure I could figure it out."  
Fall smirked. "Doesn't sound like you're sure about that. Well, I can fly this. I can fly anything."  
Zorn nodded. "Okay, alright. And the second?"  
Fall turned to the controls and got the flyer moving. It lifted into the air, hovered there for a moment. "Two: you wouldn't be able to throw me out of here. I'm a lot stronger than you are."  
Zorn shook his head. "Fair enough. Let's go get your girlfriend."  
Fall contacted Keppler and informed her of the situation. Keppler didn't like it but she didn't really have any choice in the matter. Fall got the flyer going. It sped along, pushing through the thick, red dust.

Knight awoke. She hadn't been out long. The mine was relatively close to Hastler's residence and the alien had indeed taken her there. She was stuck against a wall, some kind of resin coating her body.  
She looked about. There wasn't much light. What little there was came from a few miners hats and emergency devices scattered about. The mine had been transformed into a horrendous hive.  
Eggs dotted the floor, stretching out for as far as Knight could see. A fine layer of mist covered them. Trapped along the wall like her were many other people. Women, children, men, non-binary. All the same. All the people that Knight could see were dead, their chests and upper bodies ripped open in the birthing cycles of hideous beasts. At the back of the chamber was quite literally the worst thing that Knight had ever seen.  
It was a huge, insect like creature that looked like it had become part of the infrastructure of the cave. A massive egg sack extended from it and a blasphemous tube led from the sack to the ground, secreting another egg onto the floor as Knight watched.  
The creature - the Queen - was obviously related to the aliens but it was horrendous. Much worse. Knight could see aspects of it that revealed its cloned nature, from a human host. Large parts of it were covered in hideously stretched pinkish yellow skin. It was bruised and infected. Large boils and sacks of pus dotted its surface: the Queen's belly, for lack of a more fitting word.  
It's flat, beetle like head was also covered in this stretched-out, inflamed human skin. Knight was reminded of the stretch marks that some people got after pregnancy or losing a lot of weight.  
It had two sets of arms extending from its torso. One set was long and ended in those taloned hands distinctive of the aliens. The other set was small and clearly human. To Knight, they looked like the arms of an infant, small and useless.  
It took all her effort not to vomit from the obvious wrongness of the creature. It was an abomination.  
She pulled at the resin that she was stuck to. It was still soft, as she had just been installed in the stuff. Still, it was hard going.  
On the ground in front of her, an egg began to open. The top split and unfolded, revealing the fleshy interior of the sack.  
Knight pulled harder, concentrating on her right arm. She yanked and yanked.  
The egg stirred, shifted in place as the creature inside began to uncurl. Awaken.  
With a mighty effort, Knight's right arm was free. She pushed herself forward in the resin, began to work on her left arm and muttered to herself. "Come on, come on!"  
The interior of the egg sloshed about and Knight could see finger-like legs poking out. They jittered and wobbled.  
Knight's left arm was free now and she used both hands to grab the pistol tucked into her belt. She took careful aim, knowing that she wasn't the best shot. She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly.  
The facehugger came flying out of the egg, jumping through the air like a jack-in-the-box. Knight fired one short, controlled burst - thinking of the way that Fall and Zorn fired - and hit the creature right in its "open palm". The thing blew apart and fell to the ground.  
There was a shriek of anger from the Queen, across the length of the cave. Knight could see three aliens stand to attention, emerging out of the low mist that covered the ground. All three of them screamed and came for her.  
Frantically, she moved her legs, trying to free them. As she did so, she fired at the beasts. She missed with every shot.  
They were getting close. Knight wasn't going to make it. The aliens were going to reach her before she could disentangle herself from the resin.  
That was Hastler's flyer came shooting into the cavern. Immediately, it slid into place, putting itself in between Knight and the oncoming aliens. The flyer turned to one side, the passenger window already down, and Zorn leaned out, weapon in hand. He fired - full auto - at the oncoming monsters, screaming in rage as he did so.  
The aliens began to fall, bursting apart in streams of sickly-yellow blood. Zorn laughed and kept firing. "This is the best day of my goddamn life!"  
On the other side, Fall opened the flyer door. She leaned out and extended a hand to Knight. "Come on!"  
Knight grabbed hold of the offered hand and the strong synthetic woman pulled. Soon, Knight was free of the resin entirely. She jumped into the flyer, right behind Fall. "Go!"  
Fall didn't need to be told twice. She circled the flyer around. Now Zorn had a shot at the Queen. He cocked a grenade into the chamber and shot a steely grin at the monster. "Fuck you, bitch!"  
He fired. The Queen screeched in rage and tried to tear itself off the wall. But it did no good. The grenade hit it right in the chest and exploded. The Queen was practically torn in half.  
Zorn, still laughing, cocked another grenade into the chamber and fired again. The round hit the Queen in the head and the massive, flat cranium blew apart.  
All around, aliens shrieked and screamed. They ran about, not knowing what to do, where to go. They were momentarily shaken and confused by the sudden loss of their Queen. Eggs burst open in confusion and facehuggers skittered about the ground, disappearing in the mist.  
The flyer rounded once more and sped out of the cavern, shooting down the mine tunnel. Knight watched as the hard rock walls rocketed past the windows of the flyer. She could see daylight ahead.  
The flyer punched out of the mine and into red, open air. Zorn uttered one more hard, alarming laugh. Knight clapped him on the shoulder. "Good shooting."  
Zorn shrugged, smiled. "It ain't nothing. I wanted to help."  
Knight nodded. The flyer sped through the valley, heading for the terminal. Knight adjusted her body and looked out the window, up into the sky. She thought she could see a dot that was getting bigger, heading for them.  
Tosh. Right on schedule.

Keppler helped the remaining air traffic controllers heard the survivors onto the transport. There were only a few left. She helped a child up onto the first, high step of the stairs up. The child was by themselves. Keppler saw no one that looked like a parent or guardian. She shook her head as the child proceeded up the stairs to the huge transport ship.  
The morning wind howled on the open runway. It made it difficult for everyone to hear each other.  
Keppler saw a flashy new flyer coast onto the tarmac from the red dust of the planet. She shielded her eyes against the morning glare as the flyer came to a rest nearby, landed on the tarmac. The officials raised their rifles at the vehicle.  
Knight, Fall and presumably Zorn stepped out of the flyer. Keppler couldn't contain her obvious pleasure. She approached them with the intention of giving all of them a hug but she was stopped by the officials.  
They made the three of them put down their weapons and put their hands up. Zorn shook his head. "This some bullshit. I just wasted that fucking alien Queen, man. Show some respect."  
But he did as he was told and the guards waved their scanners over their bodies. They all came up negative: they weren't carrying any aliens inside them.  
When this was done, Zorn jumped onto the stairs of the transport and bounded up them. Keppler hugged both Fall and Knight at the same time, enfolding the both of them in her arms. It lasted for only a moment - they were running out of time - but it felt good.  
When it was over, she held Fall by the shoulders. "I'm sorry."  
Fall nodded, looked down. "It's alright." Then she looked up, meeting Keppler's gaze. "We're way past that now."  
Keppler also nodded. "Now get on that ship. We need a good pilot. Go!"  
"I'm on it," Fall said.  
She proceeded up the stairs and onto the ship. Knight stayed on the tarmac. Keppler approached Gibson, who was standing nearby. "Is that all?"  
Gibson nodded. "I think so."  
All but one of the officials filed onto the ship. The lone official approached the others. He had to shout to make himself heard over the wind. "That hover-bus pulled in a while ago but I haven't seen anyone come out of it!"  
Keppler nodded and clapped Gibson on the shoulder. "Get on the ship. We'll take care of it!"  
Gibson nodded and proceeded up the stairs. Keppler, Knight and the official approached the hover-bus, which was some meters away.  
Red dust flew all around the hover-bus, obscuring their view of it. Keppler's smile turned to a frown as they reached the vehicle. There was something wrong. The windows were cracked. And was that blood?  
Keppler was in the lead, the official right behind her. Knight was a couple meters back.  
As Keppler reached the door to the hover-bus, it was tossed aside by some mighty, internal force. The door slammed into the official and he went flying.  
Then whatever was inside came flowing out like a vampire emerging from its coffin. It was a tall, dark shape, steely black.  
Keppler came face to face with the Beast for the very first time.

"No!" Knight screamed.  
The Beast immediately attacked Keppler. The captain made to move out of its way but the Beast grabbed her, opened its mouth and struck with its inner jaw. The fleshy probe slammed into Keppler's left shoulder, just missing her neck. There was a wet crunch as the appendage broke the skin, the muscle, the bone beneath.  
Instantly, Keppler's left arm was torn away from the rest of her body and the Beast tossed her aside. Keppler hit the hover-bus. There was another crack as her back broke and she spun away from the vehicle, slamming into the hard tarmac.  
Knight pulled out her pistol and fired at the Beast. She was angry, nervous, terrified. She missed. And missed. Then there was a click as she ran out of ammo.  
The Beast stepped over the fallen official, towering over his supine body. The offical screamed, his breather falling off his face. How was the Beast here? How did it get down to the planet's surface? Knight didn't know and it didn't mater. It was here now.  
The Beast extended one foot and placed it on the man's forehead. It started to apply pressure. Knight ran at the monster as the man's head began to crack under the incredible weight of the Beast.  
Knight slammed into the Beast but it knocked her aside with ease. She went tumbling to the tarmac, the wind knocked out of her.  
The official uttered one last, desperate scream. Then the Beast applied more foot pressure and the man's head was crushed, blood, brains, and pieces of skull splattered across the ground.  
Knight sat up. Her helmet was cracked by the fall and she could feel air escaping, rushing out. How long could one breathe on Aurora without their own air supply? How long before the poison air killed them? A few minutes? She wasn't sure.  
The Beast was on her in an instant. It was damaged, cracked, broken, beaten. But it was still coming. Still enraged. Still wanted every human it met dead. It had slaughtered everyone on the hover-bus when they pulled in - the howling wind covering their screams - and waited. And once it was done with Knight, it would slaughter everyone on the Lord Jim. One by one.  
Knight gritted her teeth. She couldn't let that happen.  
But what could she do? She was about to die.  
The Beast pulled back its lips. Those awful, dripping, metal teeth. They gleamed in the harsh, red sunlight of Aurora.  
Something shifted in Knight's jacket pocket and suddenly the solution presented itself to her. It was risky but what did she have to lose at this point?  
Saliva dripped onto Knight's helmet as the Beast opened its mouth to strike. Knight grabbed the heavy somethings that rested in her jacket pocket and held them in front of her face - her helmet - palm up and open.  
The Beast struck and instinctively bit down on what was in Knight's hand: the organic destroying ammo that Knight had collected from Marlowe's corpse on the Lorelei. Her hand was slammed into her helmet, cracking it all the more. She felt a pain in her hand as well as the Beast's sharp teeth had scraped against it while snatching the bullets from it. But it had worked.  
There was a crunch as the Beast bit down on the ammo in its mouth. For a moment, nothing happened. The Beast froze. To Knight, it looked confused. It turned its head to one side. Its grip on Knight loosened and the woman slid out from under the Beast.  
Then it turned its head towards Knight and screamed. As it opened its mouth, Knight could see that its inner jaw was already gone, dissolved by the rounds. As she watched, the Beast's teeth rotted away. Followed by its lips.  
The Beast grabbed its head in utter pain and fell over on its back. It writhed for a moment, breaking off another one of its back sticks, then it popped back up. On all fours, it scrambled towards Knight.  
Knight scooted away from it. The Beast screamed and screamed and screamed. Knight could see its head melting from the inside. Large holes began to appear in its smooth, elongated skull.  
Soon, half of its head was gone, rotted away. The Beast clambered towards her again. Knight stood up. The rage built up inside her and she kicked the Beast in what remained of its head.  
The Beast fell over, its skull cracking apart. Yellow blood bubbled up but was burned away by the organic destroying compound.  
The Beast writhed once more for a moment. Its head was gone now and its body shook, spasmed. Then it was still as the compound started to consume its neck, its shoulders, its chest.  
Knight stood over it for a moment, her breathing heavy, labored. She wouldn't be able to breathe anymore in a moment.  
She looked up at the sky. She could see Tosh now, on fire from Aurora's atmosphere. It loomed in the sky. It wouldn't be long before it came crashing down on top of them.  
When she was satisfied, she made her way to Keppler. The woman lay on the tarmac, left arm gone, a huge pool of blood spreading out around her.  
Knight knelt down and took her remaining hand. Keppler's eyes had a hard time focusing but she finally seemed to find Knight.  
She smiled. Blood poured out of her mouth. Knight knew that the hit Keppler had taken when she was thrown must have broken her back and driven her ribs into her lungs. It wouldn't be long now.  
"Knight," Keppler said.  
Knight nodded.  
"Be a leader," Keppler said. "Make rash decisions if you think it's warranted."  
Knight closed her eyes, fighting back tears. "Yes."  
"Those people will need you to become something that I know you're afraid to become," Keppler said.  
Knight opened her eyes, forced herself to witness Keppler's last moments. "And what is that?"  
Keppler was still smiling. "A captain." Then her eyes glossed over and her weight shifted in Knight's grasp. She was gone.  
Knight carefully placed Keppler's remaining hand across her chest. She gave it a small pat. She wished she could close the woman's eyes but her helmet was still up. She settled on taking her hand one last time and giving it a squeeze.  
And that was enough.

Knight came running into the transport ship. She had tossed aside her now useless helmet and was holding her breath. Finally she drew in a lungful of stale transport air. "Let's get out of here."  
Fall looked at her from the cockpit, which was just ahead of the loading area. Fall frowned. "Where's Keppler?"  
Knight shook her head. "She's gone. The Beast got her."  
Zorn was suddenly at her side, startling her. He grabbed hold of her. "Where is it?"  
"It's dead," Knight said.  
She nodded to Gibson, who was manning the door. He nodded back and closed the ramp and the outer door. Knight turned to Zorn. "Get in a seat."  
Zorn nodded. "Right."  
He ran further into the ship. Gibson and Knight proceeded into the cockpit. Fall and a co-pilot - Delany was his name - were already strapped in. Gibson and Knight took the two other chairs and got ready for take off.  
Fall switched on the engines. They revved to life. "Okay, we're hot."  
She rounded the transport on the tarmac and Knight could now see the open gates of the terminal. In the distance, she could see some kind of vast wave flowing towards them through the red dust. What was that?  
She drew in a shocked breath when she realized what it was. Aliens. Hundreds of them. They ran towards the terminal in a rage. To Knight, they looked like an oncoming lava flow. With teeth and claws.  
Fall lifted the transport off the ground and started into the air. Knight could now only see the vast sky. A large chunk of it was blotted out by the rapidly-approaching Tosh Seven Station.  
Lord Jim passed it by and rocketed into the upper atmosphere. Knight activated a screen in front of her and switched to a rear view to watch the destruction of the colony.

A enormous shadow covered the entire colony; the entire valley. The shadow proceeded up the mountains that caged in the valley and looked down on the colony like judgmental parents.  
Hundreds of aliens stormed into the open tarmac of the terminal. They came to a rest in the center of the air field. They milled about for a moment then, as one, they all looked up, realizing that something was coming for them.  
Tosh Seven Station crashed into Aurora with a thundering impact. The explosion was earth-shattering. The airfield, downtown, the Lorelei, the residential area - the entire colony. All of them were instantly vaporized in the blast.  
The impact leveled everything in a three-hundred meter diameter around the colony. One of the mountains - to the north of the colony, the one that housed the mine - shattered like a glass sculpture dropped onto a marble floor. It broke into millions of pieces of hard rock, which were kicked up into the atmosphere.  
The mushroom cloud was also hundreds of kilometers in size, stretching up into the atmosphere and rocking the escaping transport ship from side to side. The Lord Jim was tossed about but righted itself as it escaped the planet's gravity well and headed into the Void.

An hour later, when everything seemed to have calmed down, Captain Gwyn Knight entered her new cabin on board the transport ship. It was nice. Nothing too ostentatious but roomy and comfortable.  
The Lord Jim was big enough to provide everyone who had boarded with their own cabin; so few of them had escaped the colony. But a hundred or so people was something. It wasn't anything to scoff at. They were survivors. All of them.  
Knight had spoken to Zorn. She had assured him that he would always have a place on her crew if he so wished it. He had smiled at that. He also said that he would get to work deactivating the chips that all the colonists had in their bodies. Whenever they got to where they were going, they wanted to be as far away from Weyland Yutani as possible.  
Knight struggled out of her clothes, feeling every gram of the immense weight of the day. She stripped naked and looked at herself in the mirror. She was battered, bruised, but appeared to be in one piece. She nodded. Again, that was something.  
She proceeded into the bathroom and got the shower running. She waited until it was hot - very hot - before slipping under its soothing spray. Steam filled the bathroom. She had a feeling that she would be taking long showers from now on, much like her old, dearly-missed captain.  
In the middle of her shower, she heard her cabin door open. For a moment, she was scared. Had something gotten onto the ship with them? Was it after them all?  
But she knew who it was after a moment. She had given the woman an access code for entry. They were going to be sharing quarters, after all.  
Fall entered the bathroom and started to disrobe. After a moment, she joined Knight in the shower.  
Knight looked at her and smiled. "Don't tell me you left Delany in charge?"  
Fall shrugged. "It's practically on autopilot at the moment. He'll be fine."  
Knight nodded. Then she looked down at Fall's feet. One of them was still just a sealant-filled shoe. It looked so out of place in the shower, compared to the nakedness of both of them.  
Knight laughed. Fall looked confused for a moment, then looked down at her feet. She started to laugh, too.  
"We have to get you fixed," Knight said between laughs.  
"One of these days," Fall said.  
They laughed together. Knight took hold of Fall's shoulders as the hot water ran down both of their bodies. For Knight, at least, the laughter soon turned to sobbing. Then full-on crying.  
Fall took the other woman in her arms. They rested their heads on each other's shoulders.  
"I don't know if I can do this," Knight said. "I don't know if I can lead them."  
Fall put a comforting hand on the back of Knight's head. She whispered into her ear. "Yes, you can. You're strong. Stronger than all of us."  
Knight cried for some time. The weight of the day was just too much. But it passed. She stopped crying.  
The hug broke and they looked at each other. There was silence for a long while.  
"You have to help me," Knight finally said.  
Fall nodded. "I will, Gwyn."  
"I love you, Mirella," Knight said.  
They kissed. And that was all. They stayed there, in each other's arms, as the heat of the shower began to dim.  
There was much to do. They had to decide where they were going, what the future held for them.  
It was unsettling. The future.  
But that was life. Wasn't it?

THE END


End file.
